Prashant Kishor to step down as election strategist after guiding TMC to victory against BJP

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who was instrumental in planning the Trinamool Congress (TMC) campaign in West Bengal, on May 2 said that he would "eventually quit strategizing elections". "I do not want to continue what I am doing. I have done enough. Time for me to take a break and do something else in life. I want to quit this space," Mr Kishor told NDTV in an exclusive interview. Talking of the Bengal election, he said while the results seemed one-sided in favour of the Trinamool Congress, it was a tough fight. "We went through hell. The Election Commission was blatantly partial and made our campaign difficult. We have been confident about doing very well and the TMC winning more than people were willing to give.

The BJP was trying to build up massive propaganda that they are winning Bengal" Mr Kishor told NDTV. Ahead of the assembly polls, Kishor had vowed that he would quit strategizing polls if the BJP ends up winning more than 100 seats. The trends so far show that the BJP will be restricted below the three digit-mark. "For those who were trolling me that I should quit as the BJP would win more than 100 seats, I want to tell them that even in our victory I plan to quit," he said. Kishor, apart from announcing his decision to quit, called upon all political parties to "unite against the Election Commission". The need of the hour is to oppose the poll panel, he said. "The EC has acted as an extension of the BJP," Kishor told the news channel. On being asked about the major challenges that propped up ahead of the elections, Kishor said the party was concerned when Banerjee was injured days before the polls were scheduled to begun.