The BJP appears to have played safe in its Bihar candidate list, dropping 16 sitting MLAs but repeating 55, and fielding most of its key ministers and organisational heavyweights. The list of 101 contains at least 30 new faces, including public personalities and professionals, as Bihar parties brace for the impact of Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj, with its focus on such candidates.
All the NDA allies have now come out with their entire lists, including 101 each by the BJP and JD(U), despite hiccups till the last minute.
There is no Muslim in the BJP’s list, while the JD(U) has fielded 4, down from 11 in 2020. None of its 11 Muslim candidates had won then, with the lone Muslim the JD(U) fielded in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls also losing.
The NDA calculation appears to be that the Muslims will consolidate behind the Mahagathbandhan; while they have traditionally backed the RJD, the Congress may also draw some this time given that it looks stronger now.
Apart from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates in the reserved constituencies (11 SC and 1 ST), the BJP’s list of 101 shows broad representation across OBC, EBC, and upper caste categories.
There are 13 women, accounting for about 13% of the BJP’s total nominees. Of them, 7 are sitting MLAs, and 1 was also a candidate in 2020. The JD(U) list also includes 13 women, 6 of them are sitting MLAs while 2 have been repeated as candidates.
In the JD(U) list of 101, more than half (59) are EBCs and OBCs. While EBCs have got 22 tickets, the single-largest representation is of the Kushwahas, at 13. The Kurmis, the caste group to which JD(U) supremo and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar belongs, have got 12 tickets.
The EBCs constitute 36% of Bihar’s population as per a 2022-23 caste survey, and OBCs 27.13%.
The prominence to EBCs, Kushwahas and Kurmis shows the significance Nitish puts on the three groups whom he has cultivated in government. Belonging to the minuscule Kurmi group in a state where caste holds the key, Nitish’s focus has been especially on EBCs.
There are 8 Yadavs in the JD(U) list. The single largest caste group in Bihar with a population of 14.26% as per the caste survey, the Yadavs are loyal voters of the RJD.
Of the 101 seats in the JD(U)’s kitty, 15 are reserved. The party has fielded 5 candidates each belonging to the Musahar and Ravidasi groups, 2 Pasis, and 1 Dusadh or Paswan. The Dusadhs are the main vote bank of Chirag Paswan’s LJP (Ram Vilas), and the ties between it and the JD(U) are strained at best. However, with the two in alliance, some Paswan votes are expected to come to the JD(U).
The party has fielded about 22 candidates from the general category, with Rajputs getting 10 seats and Bhumihars 9. Only 2 Brahmins figure in its list, and 1 Kayastha.
The sitting MLAs dropped by the BJP include Nand Kishore Yadav (incumbent Speaker, from Patna Sahib); Arun Sinha (Kumhrar); and former ministers Amrendra Pratap Singh (Arrah), Ramsurat Rai (Aurai), Motilal Prasad (Riga), Rampreet Paswan (Rajnagar–SC), Bhagirathi Devi (Ramnagar–SC), and Rashmi Verma (Narkatiaganj).
The prominent candidates in the BJP list include outgoing Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary (Tarapur, he is currently an MLC) and Vijay Kumar Sinha (Lakhisarai); and former Deputy CMs Tarkishore Prasad (Katihar) and Renu Devi (Bettiah).
Another prominent MLC in the poll list is outgoing Health Minister Mangal Pandey. While Samrat Choudhary last contested polls in 2010, winning on the RJD ticket, it will be Pandey’s first brush with electoral politics in a three-decade-long career.
Among the BJP’s new faces, the most notable are folk singer Maithili Thakur (Alinagar); former IPS officer Anand Mishra (Buxar); and young Dalit leader Sujit Paswan (Rajnagar–SC). Chhoti Kumari, a first-time contestant, replaces sitting MLA C N Gupta in Chhapra.
Maithili, who reportedly wanted to contest from Benipatti, was told to accept the ticket from neighbouring Alinagar. This was because of resistance from sitting Benipatti MLA Binod Narayan Jha, who has got the ticket again.
In Raghopur, the BJP has again fielded Satish Kumar Yadav against the RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, marking the continuation of a long-standing rivalry in the high-profile seat.
Another takeaway from the BJP list is the ticket to Ranvijay Singh, a leader of its ally Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM), from Goh. Singh had been runner-up in the last elections and crossed over to the BJP after the RLM did not get Goh seat.
Former IPS officer Anand Mishra, who quit the Jan Suraaj recently, was fielded from Buxar. Mishra contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as an Independent from Buxar after he was denied the BJP ticket from there, costing the party the seat.
In the four Patna seats, the BJP replaced sitting Kumhrar MLA Arun Kumar Sinha with Sanjay Gupta, and sitting Patna Sahib MLA and Assembly Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav with Ratnesh Kushwaha.
This is a clear focus on OBC faces, with Sinha – a Kayastha and five-time winner from Kumhrar – dropped. Kushwaha, who will contest for the first time from Patna Sahib, is also an OBC leader, taking over from seven-time MLA Nand Kishore Yadav.
(with inputs from Santosh Singh)
