Over the past two decades, a handful of parties have dominated Bihar politics, ranging from regional parties such as the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to national parties like the BJP and the Congress. But in more recent elections, smaller regional parties – some led by popular local leaders who hold influence over particular caste groups or communities – aspiring to emerge as “kingmakers” have played an increasingly crucial role in the state’s electoral arena.
With the elections for Bihar’s 243-member Assembly set to be held in October-November, here is a look at the impact of smaller parties in the last few polls.
Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)
Heading into the upcoming Bihar polls, Union minister Chirag Paswan’s LJP(RV) is expected to play a vital role as an NDA ally. With Chirag having already announced his intention to shift to Bihar politics and contest the Assembly polls from an unreserved seat – which is being viewed as an attempt to build a broader coalition beyond his Paswan community listed in the Scheduled Castes (SCs) category – he is likely to challenge Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) over the BJP-led NDA’s seat-sharing deal.
His party’s vote-cutting impact in the 2020 Assembly polls – despite winning just one of the 135 seats it contested alone with a 5.66% vote share – could also put pressure on the BJP over seat-sharing this time.
Contesting in 2020 as the united LJP – before Chirag’s uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras rebelled and formed his own faction in 2021 – the party’s only win came in the Matihani Assembly seat, which saw a three-way fight with the JD(U) and the CPI(M).
While the LJP then came second in just nine seats, it was third in 93 seats, and fourth or lower in 32 seats. Its highest vote share came in three general seats, the only ones where the party secured more than 30% of the vote share. The LJP got 20% to 30% of the vote share in 12 seats, 10% to 20% in 43 seats, and less than 10% in 77 seats. Its best performances, however, were spread across the state, stretching from seats in the Patna division in the west to the Purnia division in the east.
However, the LJP’s vote-cutting impact in the 2020 polls was especially significant. In a total 64 seats where the party finished third or lower, it won more votes than the winner’s margin. In 27 of these seats, the LJP hurt the JD(U), which was placed second.
In effect, the JD(U) could have won at least an additional 27 seats had the LJP then remained in the NDA. Nitish’s party ultimately won just 43 of the 115 seats it contested. In one such seat where the LJP got more votes than the victory margin, the BJP finished as the runner-up, while in another such four seats, then NDA ally Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) was the runner-up. In total, the LJP dented the NDA in 32 seats.
But the LJP also impacted the poll outcome for the Opposition RJD-led Mahagathbandhan in 31 seats. The RJD was the runner-up in 17 seats, the Congress in 11 seats, and the CPI(ML) Liberation in three seats, where the LJP got more votes than the winning margin. Had the Mahagathbandhan won these seats, it would have crossed the 122-seat majority mark.
By the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Chirag’s party, now called the LJP(RV), had rejoined the NDA. Contesting just five Lok Sabha seats (covering 30 Assembly segments) out of 40 in Bihar as part of the NDA, the LJP(RV)
won every seat with an overall vote share of 6.6%. Four of the five LJP(RV) candidates got more than 50% of the vote share, while one candidate just fell short of the mark at 49.5%.
The Assembly segment-level results in the five Lok Sabha seats bagged by the LJP(RV) show the extent of the party’s dominance. It led in all but one Assembly segment under these five seats, securing more than 30% of the vote share in each segment. In 17 segments, it got more than 50% of the vote share, between 40% and 50% in 12 segments, and between 30% and 40% in one segment.
LJP (RV) spokesperson A K Vajpayee said that no decision on seat-sharing has been taken but the party will keep demanding a “respectable” share of seats. “Our objective is to strengthen the NDA. The party is making preparations for all the seats across the state,” he said.
CPI(ML) Liberation
The most politically prominent of the Left parties in Bihar is the CPI(ML)L, which has historically had several local strongholds going back to the days of undivided Bihar.
The party’s best-ever showing came in the 2020 polls, when it won 12 seats from the 19 it contested as part of the Mahagathbandhan. It won just seven seats fewer than the Congress, which won 19 of the 70 seats it contested.
While the CPI(ML)L secured 3.19% of the vote share across Bihar, it performed well in its 19 seats, where it garnered 41.36% of the vote share. It secured more than 50% of the vote share in three other seats. In another 10 seats, the CPI(ML)L got between 40% to 50% of the vote share. The party won less than 25% of the vote share in just one seat.
Among the seats where the CPI(ML)L put up its strongest performance in terms of vote share, 10 fell in the state’s southwestern Patna and Magadh divisions.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, contesting three constituencies (covering 20 Assembly segments), the CPI(ML)L won two seats – both in southwestern Bihar – as part of the Mahagathbandhan. The party secured an overall vote share of 3.06%.
At the Assembly seat-level then, the CPI(ML)L led in 12 segments, and finished as the runner-up in the remaining eight segments it contested. In all but one segment, the CPI(ML)L secured more than 30% of the vote share – a marker of its strong but limited presence in Bihar. In three segments, the party got over 50% vote share. In seven segments, it got between 40% and 50% vote share.
Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular)
In the wake of a power struggle within the JD(U) over the CM’s post in 2015, Jitan Ram Manjhi had been expelled from the party after a brief stint in the top job. Manjhi had taken over from Nitish, who resigned following the party’s poor showing in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He however refused to relinquish the post when Nitish reclaimed it, resulting in his expulsion from the party.
Manjhi then founded the HAM(S) and contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as part of the Mahagathbandhan alliance. His party contested three seats, but failed to win any, getting 2.39% votes. However, by the 2020 Assembly polls, the HAM(S) had returned to the NDA fold.
The HAM(S) contested seven Assembly seats in 2020, winning four with a vote share of 0.89%. Despite being a minor party, the HAM(S) is considered influential in the Musahar SC community. In fact, five of the seven seats it contested were reserved for SCs – and largely concentrated in southern Bihar along the Jharkhand border – with three of its four wins coming in such seats.
In terms of vote share that year, Manjhi himself was the best performer, securing 45.36% in the SC-reserved Imamganj seat. In four other seats, the HAM(S) got 30% to 40% of the vote share and forfeited its deposit in just one seat, where it still received more votes than the Congress’s winning margin over runner-up LJP.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, contesting again with the NDA, the HAM(S) won in Gaya, the only seat it contested with Manjhi as its candidate. In the SC-reserved seat that borders Jharkhand, Manjhi got a vote share of 52.3% and won by over 1 lakh votes ahead of his nearest RJD rival. He was subsequently inducted as a Union minister in the Narendra Modi Cabinet 3.0.
Jan Suraaj Party
After spending two years on a statewide yatra, election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor founded the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) in October 2024. While the 2025 Bihar Assembly polls will mark its full electoral debut, the party’s first contests came in four Assembly bypolls held in different parts of the state in November 2024.
Though the NDA swept these bypolls, winning all four seats, including the RJD bastions of Belaganj and Ramgarh, the JSP made its presence felt by potentially denting the prospects of the RJD in two seats despite its other two candidates forfeiting deposits.
In Belaganj, a seat which the RJD had not lost in the previous 34 years, the JD(U) won by 21,391 votes. The JSP candidate seemingly played spoilsport here for the RJD by pocketing over 17,000 votes.
In Imamganj too, the JSP seems to have spoiled the RJD’s chances as its candidate secured 37,103 votes even as the HAM(S) defeated its closest rival RJD by 5,945 votes.
In the closely contested seat of Ramgarh, the BJP eventually emerged victorious after its candidate was given a run for his money by the BSP, which lost the bypoll by a 1,362-vote margin. The RJD came in third. Here, the JSP candidate finished fourth with 6,513 votes.
The NDA also managed to win Tarari, seen as a CPI(ML)L stronghold in recent times, with the BJP defeating the Left party by over 10,000 votes. Here, the JSP candidate was placed in third place with 5,622 votes.
Rashtriya Lok Morcha
Upendra Kushwaha, a veteran politician who began his career with Nitish Kumar’s erstwhile Samata Party before joining the JD(U) when it was founded in 2003, has often found himself on either side of the political divide in Bihar. In 2013, he quit the JD(U) citing poor governance under Nitish, and formed the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP).
In 2021, the RLSP merged with the JD(U) after a poor performance in the 2020 polls. But in 2023, unhappy with the leadership of the then Nitish-led Mahagathbandhan government, Kushwaha quit to found the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM), which is now an NDA constituent.
In 2020, the RLSP had formed a third front with the AIMIM, BSP, SBSP and other smaller parties. But it was a poor showing for this alliance, particularly the RLSP, which failed to win any of the 99 seats it contested as the senior ally and secured only 1.8% votes.
None of the RLSP’s candidates was placed second or higher – the party finished third in 23 seats, and fourth or lower in the remaining 76 seats. Its vote exceeded 20% in just three seats – Bhabua, Goh and Mohania. In eight seats, the party got between 10% and 20% of the vote share, while in the remaining 88 seats it was below 10%.
However, despite its poor performance, the RLSP had played the role of vote-cutter in 33 seats where it got more votes than the winning margin. In 18 of these seats, the NDA parties lost out by finishing second, while the Mahagathbandhan was hurt in 14 seats. The RJD and the BJP lost out the most in these seats, coming second in 10 and nine seats, respectively, where the RLSP’s votes exceeded the winning margin.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls – Kushwaha’s party by then had become the RLM and rejoined the NDA – the RLM contested just one seat, which it lost to the CPI(ML) L. Despite Kushwaha himself being in the fray, the party came third in the seat with 25.14% vote share.