NEW DELHI: Jan Suraaj supremo Prashant Kishor on Tuesday took full responsibility for his party’s poor performance in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, admitting that he failed to earn the trust of voters. This was his first public response after Jan Suraaj drew a blank in the polls.Speaking to reporters in Patna, Kishor said: “We made an honest effort, but it was completely unsuccessful. There’s no harm in admitting this. Forget about systemic change; we couldn’t even bring about a change in power. But we certainly played some role in changing Bihar’s politics… There must have been some mistake in our efforts, in our thinking, in the way we explained that the public had not elected us. If the public did not show faith in us, then the responsibility for that is completely mine. I take that responsibility 100% on myself, that I could not win the faith of the people of Bihar.”Jan Suraaj failed to win a single seat, despite contesting 238 constituencies. The ruling NDA won 202 seats, while the Mahagathbandhan secured 35.Asked whether he would resign after the defeat, Kishor said he held no official position to step down from. “What position am I holding that I should resign? I had said that if (JDU) gets more than 25 seats, I will retire. From which position should I resign? I did not say that I will leave Bihar. I have left politics. I do not do politics, but I did not say that I will stop speaking for the people of Bihar,” he said.Kishor added that despite the setback he would intensify his work in Bihar. “I will work twice as hard as you’ve seen me work over the past three years and put in all my energy. There’s no question of backing down. There’s no turning back until I fulfil my resolve to make Bihar better,” he said.He also announced a symbolic gesture of atonement over his failure to communicate effectively with voters. “I failed to explain to the people of Bihar the basis on which they should vote and why they should create a new system. Therefore, as atonement, I will observe a day-long silent fast at the Gandhi Bhitiharwa Ashram on November 20th… We may have made mistakes, but we have not committed any crime. We have not committed the crime of spreading caste-based poison in society. We have not played Hindu-Muslim politics in Bihar. We have not committed the crime of dividing people in the name of religion. We have not committed the crime of giving money to the poor, innocent people of Bihar and buying their votes,” he added.Once regarded as one of India’s most successful election strategists, Kishor launched Jan Suraaj after a long padyatra across Bihar. The party fielded candidates across the state on a platform of merit, jobs, youth migration and governance reforms. It lost deposits in 236 of the 238 seats it contested, underscoring the gap between its online support and its ground presence in a state where caste, alliances and local networks remain decisive.The Bihar Assembly elections were held on November 6 and 11, and the results were declared on November 14.