PATNA, Aug. 3 -- A day ahead of the counting of votes for the Bankipur assembly by-election, Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor on Sunday levelled serious allegations against the Patna administration, accusing the police of acting in a partisan manner to influence the election. He claimed that the Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) had ordered the detention of Jan Suraaj's local leaders and workers at the behest of the BJP and questioned the selective action against his party. Addressing a press conference at the party office, Kishor said the party had submitted evidence to Bihar's chief electoral officer (CEO) regarding alleged police excesses during polling and also placed the documents before the media. Referring to a police statement that those detained were "outsiders" whose presence could disturb the election, he alleged that most of the over 50 people detained were local residents picked up from their homes despite there being no violation of prohibitory orders. Kishor claimed police entered houses late at night and detained people who were asleep, releasing some of them only shortly before the close of polling after allowing them to vote. He asked how 54 Jan Suraaj workers had been detained while questioning how many BJP workers had faced similar action. He also targeted chief minister Samrat Choudhary, saying that even during Nitish Kumar's 20-year tenure, the administration had not been misused in such a manner to influence elections, said the JSP press release. Several local residents shared their accounts at the press conference. Ward 26 Mandiri resident Nawal Kishore Gupta alleged he was taken from his home late at night, kept at Rajiv Nagar police station for several hours and allowed to vote only around 5 pm before being released. Ward 22 resident Nibha Bhushan alleged police personnel entered her home after she had accompanied elderly voters to a polling station, while ward 38 resident Sunil Chandravanshi claimed police attempted to detain him on multiple occasions. Kishor said the Election Commission had assured the party that the Patna SSP would not be present at the centre during the counting process on Monday. He also released a list of 18 local residents whom he alleged had been wrongfully detained. Counting of votes for the Bankipur assembly bypoll will begin at Patna's Anugrah Narayan College with postal ballots from 8am on Monday and continue till it is over. EVM (electronic voting machine) counting will begin at 8.30am, even if postal ballot counting is still in progress. Postal ballots are counted separately by the returning officer (RO) or an assistant returning officer (ARO) at designated counting tables in the presence of candidates or their counting agents. To improve transparency, the Election Commission of India (ECI) amended the counting procedure in September 2025. Under the revised rule, while EVM counting may commence at 8.30am, the penultimate (second-last) round of EVM/voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) counting cannot begin until the counting of all postal ballots at that counting centre has been completed. The district administration has put in place elaborate traffic arrangements for counting of votes at AN College on Monday....