Claiming to change the way politics is done in Bihar, Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor resolved to field “strong, credible candidates”, emphasising especially on academic credentials. Kishor, who himself decided to stay out of the race, also ensured that his party – contesting its first Assembly elections – led the way in declaring its candidates.
An analysis of the 239 candidates contesting on the Jan Suraaj ticket – it fielded names for all 243 seats, but 3 withdrew their nomination, and that of 1 was rejected – shows that it has about 22 doctors in the race and several engineers. A third of its candidates, around 85, have declared “agriculture” as their occupation in their affidavits. Some have additionally listed other sources of income like business, law practice, animal husbandry and fisheries.
Fifty-five Jan Suraaj candidates (or a fourth of the total) are post-graduates as per their affidavits, 94 are graduates and 11 are PhDs. There are 34 candidates who have said they have cleared Class 12, and 18 who have declared Class 10 as their academic qualification.
An analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms of candidates contesting in the first phase, covering 121 seats which will vote on November 6, shows that while 44% of the Jan Suraaj candidates have declared criminal cases, 43% have declared serious criminal cases. The figures for the RJD, fighting the tag of “jungle raj”, are 76% and 60%, respectively, and for the BJP, 65% and 56%. The Left parties, known for their agitational politics, have the maximum share of candidates with declared criminal cases.
Though Kishor entered Bihar’s political field with a splash, ground reports indicate people are still weighing its depth, and feel it should “work on the ground” for a few more years and prove its staying power to get their votes. There is also scepticism about how effective his candidates can be as political representatives who can solve people’s problems.
However, in a closely fought race, the Jan Suraaj could impact the results, and one deciding factor would be Kishor’s choice of candidates. An analysis shows several interesting patterns.
Having promised to field at least 40 women candidates, Kishor has nominated 25. But this is nearly double the BJP and JD(U)’s tallies – who have fielded 13 women each from their respective 101 seats. The RJD comes closest, with 23 women candidates in the race from its 143 seats.
The average age of the Jan Suraaj candidates is 50, with 26-year-old social worker Rohit Kumar in Rosera (SC-reserved) seat in Samastipur district its youngest nominee, and Dr Arun Kumar from Matihani (80) in Begusarai district its eldest.
Demographically, a majority of the candidates, 173, belong to rural areas while 58 are from urban areas.
A caste-wise analysis shows that of the Jan Suraaj’s 239 candidates, 98 belong to the general category, or 41% of the total; 54 are OBCs (like Yadavs, Dangis, Kurmis etc), 22.5% of the total; 26 are EBCs (including Kumhars, Mallahs, Dhanuks, Shershahwadi Muslims), 10.8% of the total; and 41 belong to Scheduled Castes (SCs).
There are 38 SC-reserved seats in Bihar, which means the Jan Suraaj has also fielded SCs from three unreserved constituencies — Nautan, Hathua and Harnaut. Harnaut is the home seat of JD(U) supremo and incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The 2022-23 Bihar caste survey put the EBCs at 36.01% of the state’s population, OBCs at 27.12%, and the general category at around 15.5%.
There are 28 Muslims among the Jan Suraaj candidates. Kishor, who had urged Muslims to stop supporting the RJD and back his party, had said he would give tickets to 40 people from the minority community. However, his count of 28 is just 2 less than the total Mahagathbandhan’s 30 Muslim candidates.
Dr Arun Kumar, a former director of the prestigious Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences located in Patna, is among the 22 doctors fighting on the Jan Suraaj ticket. The 22 include general surgeons, dental surgeons, paediatricians, orthopedic surgeons and AYUSH practitioners.
Among the 22 is Jagriti Thakur, a dentist contesting from Morwa seat in Samastipur, who is the granddaughter of prominent socialist leader and the late Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur.
Rakesh Kumar Mishra (64), fielded by the Jan Suraaj from Darbhanga (in Darbhanga district) is a retired IPS officer, and a gold medalist in B.Tech (Civil) from IIT-BHU, Varanasi.
Shoaib Ahmed Khan, a businessman contesting from Darbhanga Rural (also in Darbhanga district), has declared a PhD from Maryland State University, USA.
Ten candidates have declared in their affidavits that they are “literatate”.
Besides, Mohd Ittefaq Alam, contesting from Kasba seat in Purnea district, has done ‘Wastania (middle school equivalent)’ from the Bihar State Madrasa Education Board, while Mohd Ekramul Haq (Thakurganj seat) has cleared Class 5 from a madarsa.
Santosh Chaudhary, contesting from Nautan (Paschim Champaran district), has passed ‘Madhyama’ from a Sanskrit school while Awadhesh Prasad, contesting from Parihar (Sitamarhi district), holds ‘Acharya’ degree from Sanskrit University.
Naresh Chaudhary, contesting from Rajauli (Nawada district), has declared a diploma in electrical engineering as well as “construction labourer” and “farming” as his sources of earning.
In mandatory reasons to be submitted for selecting a candidate despite criminal charges against them, the Jan Suraaj has listed cases such as wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, rioting, criminal intimidation, attempt to murder, theft and others against its candidates.
In almost each case, it has said the candidate is “a good social worker” and cited “demand of the people from the locality” as the reason for picking them.
Of the 239 Jan Suraaj candidates, the prominent turncoats include former RJD Araria MP Sarfaraz Alam (fielded from Jokihat in Seemanchal region, where he lost in 2020); former MP and ex-BJP leader Dhirendra Agarwal (from Gaya Town); ex-BJP MLA Janardan Yadav (Narpatganj in Araria district); former minister and ex-JD(U) leader Dasai Chaudhary (from Patepur in Vaishali district); and ex-JD(U) MLC Sanjeev Shyam Singh (Gurua in Gaya district).
Besides, over two dozen Jan Suraaj candidates are elected village mukhiyas and district council members, while Kalyanpur (SC-reserved) candidate Ram Balak Paswan is Deputy Mayor in the Samastipur Municipal Corporation.