Election 2.0: There's a new political guru in town, and it doesn't eat, sleep or blink

NEW DELHI: For a decade, Prashant Kishor has been India’s undisputed master craftsman of elections, the strategist who could bend narratives, stitch coalitions and turn sentiment into seats to deliver wins for major politicians. The 2025 Bihar assembly polls, however, delivered a jolt: Kishor, despite months of padyatras, booth-level outreach and the full weight of Jan Suraaj, failed to win a single seat. The upset was more than a personal setback. It signalled a shift already unfolding beneath the surface: the old era of political strategy, built on instinct, experience and human networks, is being steadily eclipsed by a new actor that never tires, never forgets and never stops optimising. The 2020s have introduced a political strategist unlike any before: Artificial Intelligence (AI