Did AAP decide to contest all 243 seats in Bihar fearing rise of Prashant Kishor? | Assembly elections

With Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announcing that it will field candidates in all 243 seats in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, there are speculations that the surprise move was intended to contain Jan Suraaj, the fledgling party floated by political strategist Prashant Kishor.

The main reason for speculations pegging AAP against Jan Suraaj arise from the fact that Prashant Kishor projects himself as an alternative to the traditional rivals JDU-BJP and RJD-Congress alliances. This was the same political strategy used by AAP since 2014 as they introduced themselves as a third alternative in bipolar contests in Delhi as well as Punjab, Haryana and Goa.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal has been cooperating with Arvind Kejriwal thus far and did not contest in the Delhi assembly elections even as JDU fielded candidates in alliance with the BJP. However, with AAP contesting all seats in Bihar assembly elections, experts have opined that the strategy is focused on Kishor as Kejriwal's party does not want to lose its position as an alternative to the two main alliances.

AAP MP Sanjay Singh recently took a dig at Kishor, saying he is just making promises while AAP has done work at ground level. He said AAP will bring its Delhi-Punjab governance model in Bihar to focus on education, health, unemployment and anti-corruption.

AAP state in-charge Ajesh Yadav went on to thank people from Purvanchal region for helping then win in Delhi in the past elections while announcing its decision to contest all seats. "Our national convener Arvind Kejriwal asked if they can help us form a government in Delhi, then why not in Bihar?" he added.

Prashant Kishor, on the other hand, has visited remote corners of Bihar over the past two years and interacted with voters at the grassroot level. He is also hoping to win votes of Brahmins who have traditionally voted for BJP. Surveys showed that Jan Suraaj Party could find a support base among Brahmins, given Kishor's own upper caste background.

Elections for 243 seats will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11 while the vote counting will be held on November 14.

India