The Indian constitution provides its citizens the fundamental rights to equality in all respect. Equality before the law prohibits discrimination. But in terms of leadership & candidature, this does not apply to the so-called national political parties. Generally, the manifestos of all parties, deals with equal opportunities to the people, irrespective of their caste or class. The slogan like “Samajik Nyay”, “Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas” or “Nyay Ke Sath Vikas” etc. of political parties present a daydream scenario. But when elections are held, these dreamy slogans find their place on just colourful papers and actual ground reality reflects havoc pictures. Since independence, national parties particularly Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (or erstwhile Jansangh) and Communist Party (all factions) have brush the social balance in candidature selection under the carpet. A handful of castes or groups dominate candidature lists and leadership issue remains a dream for majority of socially depressed population.
After 1931, caste wise survey has been conducted in Bihar in 2022-23. Although many families have been left out, but the report presents a nearby current figure. As per report, the caste composition in Bihar is as – Upper Castes – 15.52%, Backward Castes-27.12%, Extremely Backward Castes-36.01%, SC-19.65% and ST- 1.68%. The religion wise composition is as – Hindu-81.99%, Muslim-17.7%, Sikh-0.01%, Buddhist-0.08%, Jain-0.06% and others—0.06%. Among Muslim communities, nearly three-fourth of its population falls under the BC/EBC ambit.
The battle for Bihar Vidhan Sabha election 2025 is in its final stage. The social background of the candidates reveals a grim scenario in terms of proportionate social representation. Except the JDU of CM Nitish Kumar, who is termed as social engineer, all the parties have once again proved their prejudice in providing tickets to various depressed communities as per their share. In ticket allotment, JDU has tried its best in providing proper representation to various social groups. Out of its share of 101, JDU has allotted 41 seats to Backward Castes (Yadav-8, Kurmi-12, Koeri-13, Vaisya-8), 17 seats to Extremely Backward Castes (including 8 to Dhanuk, a sub-caste of Kurmi), 22 seats to upper castes (Bhumihar-9, Brahmin-2, Rajput-10, Kayasth-1), its share of 17 reserved seats to SC/ST, and 4 seats to Muslims. RJD of Tejaswi Prasad, ex-Deputy CM, has also allotted tickets to backward classes as per its overall quota, but has shown preconception towards non-Yadav backwards, particularly Kurmi-Koeri. Out of its share of 144 seats, RJD has provided 50% seats to its “MY” equation, particularly 52 tickets to its core voter Yadav and 18 to Muslims. Both the national parties BJP and Congress have once again proved, in their ticket distribution, that socially backward masses are still irrelevant for leadership. BJP list of 101 candidates consists of 49 upper castes (Bhumihar-16, Brahmin-11, Rajput-21, Kayasth-1), 35 backward castes (Yadav-6, Kurmi-2, Koeri-7, Vaisya-15), 10 EBC, and 12 reserved seats to SC/ST. Congress list of 60 candidates are also on the similar pattern of BJP.
Denial of tickets to Muslims in BJP is not surprising, as they are believed not to vote for the party en-masse; but apathy towards Kurmi-Koeri, who aggressively vote for BJOP due to Nitish Kumar’s face, shows their biasness to Nitish’s Core voters. The pattern of previous Parliament as well as Vidhan Sabha elections after 2005 reveals that JDU is always contrived by its alliance partners. In many constituencies, where JDU’s backward class candidates struggle, a bunch of BJP’s upper castes voters prefer to move towards Congress or other parties or even independent candidates of their own social group. Knowing this trend, RJD provides nominal tickets to upper castes except Rajputs. Moreover, in seat sharing, JDU always lags behind its ally and has to contest seats in the stronghold of opposition party, whereas BJP fights on seats where either its own or ally’s core voters dominate.
In the 2010 Vidhan Sabha election, when JDU-BJP were allies, JDU’s strike rate (115 won/141 contested, i.e. 81.56%) was below BJP (91/102 i.e. 89.21%), clearly revealing that BJP’s core votes did not transferred to JDU in some areas, especially to its backward candidates; whereas JDU’s core voters aggressively rallied behind BJP. Same was the scenario in 2015 Vidhan Sabha election, when JDU-RJD alliance was in fray. JDU’s strike rate (71/101, i.e. 70.29%) was lower than RJD’s (80/101, i.e. 79.20%), as a sizeable bunch of RJD’s core voters preferred non-JDU homogenate candidates in place of official JDU candidates in some constituencies. In Vidhan Sabha election 2020, when JDU-BJP alliance was in position, JDU’s strike rate (43/115, i.e. 37.39%) was significantly lower than that of BJP (74/110, i.e. 67.27%), as the BJP’s core voter were completely against the JDU and heavyweight leaders of BJP contested on LJP tickets on seats of JDU.
In 2010, RJD’s strike rate was only 22/168, i.e. 13.09% and in 2015 that of BJP was 53/157 i.e. 33.75%, when JDU was in rival camp. In alliance with JDU-RJD, the faltering Congress also gets lifeline when its strike rate jumped from 4/243 i.e. 1.64% in 2010 to 27/41, i.e. 65.85% in 2015. Strike rate of Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP remains nearly constant at merely 4% in 2010 & 4.76% in 2015. The 2020 election scenario was completely different, as the JDU was facing off not only against the Mahagathbandhan but also against the Chirag Paswan-led LJP (supported by local BJP units).
In the 2010 election, the vote percentage of major parties was as :- JDU (contested seat -141)- 22.58%, BJP (102)- 16.49%, RJD (168)- 18.84%, LJP (75)- 6.74%, and Congress (243)- 8.37%; in the 2015 election it was as :- JDU (contested seat-101)- 16.83%, RJD (101)- 18.35%, Congress (41)- 6.68%, BJP (157)- 24.24%, LJP (42)- 4.83%, RLSP (23)- 2.56%. and in the 2020 election it was as :- JDU (contested seat-115)- 15.39%, RJD (144)- 23.11%, Congress (41)- 9.48%, BJP (110)- 19.46%, LJP (148)- 5.66%, BSP - 1.49% MIM-1.24%. Although, the poll percentage also depends on number of seats contested.
The pattern of previous election results reveals that whenever socialist groups unitedly fight against the BJP or the Congress, backward classes get relatively higher representation in the House and when they split, upper caste lobby of Congress-BJP-Communists dominates. The result of 1990 Lok Sabha election shows that when socialist’s groups were united as Janata Dal, 53 of the 54 seats in united Bihar were won by Backward-Dalit candidates. In year 2005 & 2010 Vidhan Sabha elections, when the JDU & RJD were in opposite alliances, the overall seats of backward classes were lowered, whereas in 2015, when JDU-RJD join hands under political compulsion, seats of socially deprived groups, particularly Yadav, was increased in the House.
In Vidhan Sabha election 2025, the two regional parties JDU and RJD are again in rival camps and their allies national Parties, BJP and Congress respectively, have not only grabbed much more seats than in previous elections; but has allotted nearly half of their quota to upper caste candidates. There is no doubt that the representation of Backward classes, especially small artisan & landless castes, in Vidhan Sabha will once again lower down, which will be an alarming situation for the socially deprived masses, who even after 78 years of independence have not reached the proportionate figure in Vidhan Sabha as per their population share.