Home minister Amit Shah, who is steering the NDA’s election strategy in Bihar, has got at least three BJP rebels to withdraw from the contest, a move that party leaders attributed to the top brass’s determination to dominate the state’s political landscape.

Amid rebellion and infighting in major parties in both the rival alliance blocs, the BJP has so far managed to create the perception of a disciplined force, for which party leaders in Patna credited the election management skills of their central leaders.

During his three-day Bihar visit last week, Shah met three BJP leaders who had filed nominations as Independents or as nominees of rival parties and got them to withdraw, sources in the BJP said. The seats on which the BJP rebels backed out at the last moment were Buxar, Brahampur and Tarapur.

In Buxar, BJP leader Amarendra Pandey had filed his nomination as an Independent after the party gave the ticket to former police officer Anand Mishra. Pandey withdrew his nomination last Sunday after meeting Shah and Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is also the BJP election in-charge, in Patna.

“After meeting our party’s top leaders, I realised that I had sent a wrong message by rebelling,” Pandey told reporters after pulling out of the contest.

Sakaldeo Bind, a key Extremely Backward Caste (EBC) leader, also withdrew from the contest as an Independent in Tarapur on Monday, the last date of withdrawal of nominations for the first phase of polls. Deputy chief minister Samrat Chaudhary, the BJP’s key OBC face in the state, is contesting from Tarapur, and Bind’s withdrawal came as a big relief for the party.

In the Brahampur constituency, BJP leader Satya Prakash Tiwari had rebelled and filed his nomination as a Jan Suraaj candidate. Party insiders said Tiwari decided to withdraw his nomination after meeting Shah and Pradhan in Patna.

“The micromanagement of our top leaders is unparalleled. The message from the top is clear — that the party and the NDA cannot afford to lose this election,” a BJP leader in Patna said.

Shah’s famed “election management skills”, however, led Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor to cry hoarse on Tuesday. Kishor, who had been Modi’s chief election strategist in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, accused Shah and Pradhan of “intimidating” his party’s candidates in at least three constituencies to withdraw their nominations.

Kishor named three seats — Danapur, Brahampur and Gopalgunj — where he accused the BJP of coercing his party candidates to withdraw.

“Our candidate in Barahmpur, Dr Satya Prakash Tiwari, a respected doctor, suddenly withdrew after campaigning for three days. He was intimidated by BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan to withdraw. There is a picture of Tiwari with Pradhan at the former’s home as proof of the pressure,” Kishor alleged at a media conference in Patna.

Kishor termed “unprecedented” a Union minister’s meeting with a rival party candidate after the announcement of elections.

Jan Suraaj chief Prashant Kishor addresses a press conference ahead of Bihar Assembly polls, in Patna, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025.

In the case of Danapur, Kishor waved a photograph and accused Shah and Pradhan of “detaining” his party candidate and not allowing him to file his nomination papers. The photograph showed Jan Suraaj candidate Akhilesh Kumar standing beside Shah, Pradhan and other local BJP leaders.

“While we were told that our candidate, Akhilesh Kumar, was held hostage by RJD goons, he was sitting with the home minister of India. How can a home minister keep a candidate by his side to stop him from filing his papers?” Kishor alleged, urging the Election Commission to take cognisance.

On the Gopalgunj seat, Kishor claimed Jan Suraaj candidate Sashi Sekhar Sinha suddenly switched off his mobile phone and withdrew his nomination. “Other candidates of Jan Suraaj are facing similar kinds of pressure. The BJP is scared of defeat in Bihar,” he said.

The BJP did not respond to Kishor’s allegations. However, the party’s social media head, Amit Malviya, sought to obliquely accuse the Jan Suraaj leader of corruption.

Malviya posted a clip from a TV interview of Kishor and wrote on X: “In Bihar, Prashant Kishor, who teaches the lesson of ‘transparency’ and accuses Opposition leaders like Kejriwal of corruption, is now under scrutiny. Kishor got extremely agitated over allegations of buying land worth 36 crore for just 9 crore.”

Tejashwi dig

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday once again raised questions about Nitish Kumar’s health and fitness to lead the state, referring to a video clip that purports to show the chief minister garlanding a woman candidate of the JDU.

In the clip, Nitish is seen almost forcibly garlanding the woman at a rally despite being stopped by JDU working president Sanjay Kumar Jha. Nitish is seen reprimanding Jha, saying: “Ei gazab aadmi hai bhai (He is a strange person).”

“If the chief minister is healthy, then why is he acting like this while reading a written speech?” Tejashwi posted on X.

Nitish, 74, has in the last few years often been spotted behaving erratically, fuelling speculation about his mental health.