JD(U) candidate list: The incumbent Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) on Wednesday released its first list of 57 candidates for the November Bihar Assembly polls, which gave significant representation to party leaders from the Kurmi and Kushwaha groups (Other Backward Classes) and those from the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs). The list however did not have any Muslim candidate.
In the 2020 Assembly elections, the JD(U) had fielded Muslim faces in 11 seats. Three of these seats – Darbhanga Rural, Kanti, and Dumrao – that figured in Wednesday’s list name non-Muslim nominees.
As part of the NDA’s seat-sharing pact for the state’s 243 seats, the JD(U) has been allotted 101 seats. The party’s second list is expected on Thursday.
In 2010, when it contested the polls in alliance with the BJP, the JD(U) fielded 14 Muslim candidates, and in 2005, again as part of the NDA, nine Muslims. In 2015, when it tied up with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the JD(U) fielded seven Muslims, a slight dip that was attributed to a perception that Muslims largely vote in favour of the RJD in the state.
JD(U) sources said the decision not to name any Muslim in its first list this time stems from the fact that none of its Muslim candidates won in the last elections.
In the 2020 polls, the JD(U)’s Mohammad Jamal secured just 13% votes and finished third in the Kanti seat, while the RJD’s Mohammad Israil Mansuri won with a 32% vote share there. In Dumrao, the JD(U)’s Anjum Ara got 26.8% votes, while Ajit Kushwaha of the CPI(ML)-L won the seat with 40%. In Darbhanga Rural, the JD(U)’s Faraz Fatmi lost to the RJD’s Lalit Yadav by a little over 2,000 votes.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls too, the JD(U) fielded one Muslim candidate – Mujahid Alam from Kishanganj – who lost to the Congress’s Mohammad Jawed by about 60,000 votes.
Kurmis and Kushwahas (“Luv-Kush”) and EBCs collectively accounted for about half of the candidates in the JD(U)’s first list. While the party has nominated around 20 Kurmi and Kushwaha candidates, it has picked about 9 nominees from the EBCs.
The list also featured 12 candidates from the Scheduled Castes (SCs) for the reserved seats.
The party’s focus on Kushwahas reflects its concern over arch-rival RJD’s attempts to move beyond its traditional Muslim-Yadav (M-Y) voter base in recent years. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, four of the RJD’s 23 candidates were Kushwahas.
The JD(U)’s list has also ensured adequate representation to Kurmis, the caste to which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar belongs.
The list included four women candidates. Kavita Saha will contest from Madhepura, while Ashwamedh Devi has been fielded in Samastipur. Raveena Kushwaha and Komal Singh will be the JD(U)’s candidates from Bibhutipur and Gai Ghat, respectively. Women voters are seen as part of Nitish’s core support base in the state.
In its first list, the JD(U) has retained 23 MLAs, including Vijay Kumar Choudhary (Sarairanjan), Bijendra Prasad Yadav (Supaul), Shrawon Kumar (Nalanda), Maheshwar Hazari (Kalyanpur), and with Sunil Kumar (Bhore) – all ministers in the Nitish-led NDA government.
Hazari is the former Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, while Choudhary, Shrawon Kumar and Bijendra Yadav are among the state’s senior ministers.
The list also included several new faces as well as former MLAs such as Ishwar Mandal (Darbhanga Rural), Komal Singh (Gai Ghat), Mahendra Ram (Rajapakar), Umesh Singh Kushwaha (Mahnar), and Nachiketa Mandal (Jamalpur).
Reflecting a shift in the party’s strategy based on changing demography, it has dropped some of its candidates fielded in 2020, including sitting MLAs like Ashok Kumar (Warisnagar). New faces have also been fielded in Sandesh and Jagdeeshpur.
Meanwhile, the BJP has fielded Deputy CM and MLC Samrat Choudhary from Tarapur – a seat long held by the JD(U).
