Prashant Kishor Accuses Patna SSP of Voter Intimidation and Arbitrary Arrests
Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor has formally accused Patna SSP Kartikey Kumar Sharma of misusing police power to target local party workers. Kishor alleges the administration orchestrated 54 arrests to favor the BJP ahead of the Bankipur byelection count.
Key takeaways
- Prashant Kishor accused Patna SSP Kartikey Kumar Sharma of arresting 54 Jan Suraaj Party workers under false pretenses.
- Local residents testified that police raided homes and detained them without criminal charges during the Bankipur byelection.
- The Election Commission has removed the Patna SSP from oversight duties for the vote counting scheduled for August 3, 2026.
- Kishor alleges a partisan double standard, claiming no BJP members were arrested despite reports of intimidation in upscale wards.
- Detained workers were reportedly only allowed to cast their votes shortly before polls closed following police custody.
Kishor Alleges Police Interference in Bankipur Byelection
Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor presented allegations of administrative overreach on August 2, 2026, targeting Patna Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kartikey Kumar Sharma. Kishor claims the SSP utilized the local police force to detain over 50 JSP affiliates under the guise of removing outsiders during the Bankipur byelection. According to Kishor, the majority of those detained were not outsiders but local residents whose homes were raided without justification on July 30, 2026.
Kishor questioned the legality of these actions, highlighting that Section 144 was cited as a rationale for arresting individuals who were asleep in their homes. He contrasted the treatment of his supporters with that of BJP members, asserting that while 54 Jan Suraaj workers faced detention, no equivalent action was taken against their political rivals. Kishor noted that the Election Commission has since assured the JSP that the SSP will be excluded from the vote-counting process on August 3.
Testimonies of Arbitrary Detention
Several Patna residents shared accounts of their experiences during the police raids:
- Naval Kishore Gupta (Ward 26): A local bakery owner reported that police forcibly removed him from his home at night despite having no criminal record. He was detained at Rajiv Nagar police station and only permitted to vote at 5 p.m. after significant delay.
- Nibha Bhushan (Ward 22): Bhushan alleged that police entered her residence and threatened her with legal trouble for questioning the presence of BJP supporters on her property. She characterized the situation as a state of anarchy.
- Sunil Chandravanshi (Ward 38): Chandravanshi claimed he was picked up by the police three separate times and driven around for hours before being released without charges.
Allegations of Political Bias
During a press briefing in Patna, Kishor argued that the SSP acted at the behest of the BJP. He pointed to an upscale neighborhood in Ward 22 where he claims BJP supporters intimidated residents, including those at a Deputy Collector’s residence, without police intervention. Kishor also referenced the SSP's past record, specifically mentioning a previous controversial ruling where the officer labeled the rape and murder of a NEET aspirant as a suicide.
The JSP leader stated that the current administration's conduct marks a departure from the governance standards observed over the last two decades under Nitish Kumar. Kishor maintains that the arrests were a calculated effort to suppress JSP's electoral debut and influence the final results through intimidation.
Source: The Hindu — National
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