RAJPUTS and EBCs have secured the largest share of tickets handed out by the NDA in Bihar, with the coalition counting on this upper-lower caste combination to again pay off for it in the state.
If more than 30 NDA candidates each are either Rajputs or belong to EBC groups such as Noniyas, Nishads and Dhanuks, its list of 243 includes over a dozen Brahmins, around 25 Bhumihars, around 20 Vaishyas or Baniyas (also upper castes), as many from the OBC Koeri group, and around 15 Yadavs.
Yadavs are loyal voters of the RJD in Bihar, along with Muslims. The NDA has fielded only 5 Muslims across the 243 seats – 4 of them by the JD(U) and 1 by the LJP (RV).
The BJP and JD(U) are both contesting 101 seats each as part of the alliance, along with 29 for the LJP (RV), and 6 each for the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (S) (HAM-S).
The NDA has gone for tried-and-tested faces in its candidate list, repeating 129 names from the 2020 Assembly elections, including 37 who lost, while 114 are new faces. Of the NDA candidates, at least 80 have served as ministers, either in the outgoing government or earlier.
Though the coalition is banking on the various women-centric schemes of the Nitish Kumar government, particularly Rs 10,000 in accounts of 1.2 crore women as part of the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana, just ahead of the announcement of the elections, less than 15% of its tickets (36 of 243) have gone to women.
The JD(U) and BJP are evenly tied in this – with 14 and 13 women candidates, respectively – while the LJP (RV) has fielded 6, the HAM (S) 2 and the RLM 1.
Of the NDA’s total candidates, around 60 (or 24.7%) have written graduation as their educational qualification in their poll affidavits, and over 50 (20.5%) have submitted intermediate or equivalent. A fewer number (over 30) are postgraduates, 17 have cleared Class 10, a dozen have a bachelor’s in law, and there are 15 PhD holders, 5 with MBA, two D Litts and as many MBBS holders. Around 11 candidates have identified themselves as “literate”, while several have declared varying tenures in middle to high school.
Around 45% NDA candidates or over 110 cite agriculture as their core or secondary source of income, followed by business, salary or pension. At least 160, or over 65% of the total candidates, have roots in rural or semi-rural parts of the state and.
Over half of the 243 candidates have previous legislative experience, including in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, or the Bihar Legislative Council and Assembly, as well as served as ministers.
Bihar has 38 SC-reserved seats and 2 in ST quota. The BJP is contesting 11 of the SC seats, with the JD(U) contesting 15, the LJP (RV) 8 and the HAM (S) 4. The BJP and JD(U) are contesting 1 each of the 2 ST Assembly constituencies in the state.
One of the main lines of attack of the NDA against RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav is that he marks the propagation of Lalu Prasad’s dynasty. In the NDA’s list, there are at least 24 dynasts (about 10% of total), continuing the legacies of prominent and popular leaders.
They include LJP (RV) chief Chirag Paswan’s nephew Simant Mrinal, who is in the fray from Garkha; HAM (S) chief Jitam Ram Manjhi’s daughter-in-law Deepa Kumari, the incumbent MLA who has been re-fielded from Imamganj; and the BJP’s Rama Nishad, the wife of former Muzaffarpur MP Ajay Nishad and the daughter-in-law of big Nishad face Jai Narain Prasad Nishad, fielded from Aurai.
Besides, the BJP has fielded yet again Jitendra Kumar, the sitting MLA of Asthawan, whose father Ayodhya Prasad was earlier an MLA from the seat; Baruraj MLA Arun Kumar Singh, whose father Brij Kishor Singh represented the constituency before him; and Bankipur legislator and minister, Nitin Nabin, who is the son of prominent BJP leader Nabin Kishore Sinha. In Shahpur, the BJP candidate is Rakesh Ranjan, the son of the party’s late stalwart leader from the constituency, Vishveshwar Ojha.
The JDU has fielded from Islampur Ruhail Ranjan, the son of former MLA Rajiv Ranjan; and from Gaighat Komal Singh, whose father Dinesh Prasad Singh is an MLC and mother Veena is the LJP (RV) Lok Sabha MP from Vaishali.
Around 39 NDA tickets have gone to turncoats: including Matihani MLA Raj Kumar Singh, who was elected on an LJP ticket in 2020 but later switched to the JD(U), and has been fielded in the same seat; Parsa MLA Chhotey Lal Rai, who was elected on an RJD ticket in 2020 but switched to the JD(U) and has been fielded in the same seat from his new party.
Others include Siddharth Saurav, former Congress MLA from Bikram who broke ranks to join the BJP before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls; and the JD(U)’s Alauli candidate Ram Chandra Sada, a veteran leader who has been in several parties, including the BJP, LJP and Vikassheel Insaan Party, before joining the JD(U) last year.
As per an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms of candidates contesting for 121 seats in the first phase of Bihar elections on November 6, 39% of JD(U) candidates (22 out of 57); 65% of BJP (31 of 48); and 45% of LJP (RV) (13 of 29) have criminal cases against them.