Bihar assembly election 2025: Two biggest allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) – the BJP and JDU(U) have come out with their full 101 list of candidates for the Bihar election. Despite reports of contention among party leaders over ticket distribution, both parties released their full list.
Both parties have tried to strike a balance to ensure proper representation to different castes and sections of people. It is this very balance, along with the votes of citizens that can lead a party or an alliance to victory in Bihar. The insight into the list of candidates of both parties hint and NDA‘s attempt of perfect Bihar calculus.
The saffron party reportedly dropped 16 sitting MLAs. Last time it contested on 110 seats and the constituencies it got to fight polls is 101, a deficit of nine; and hence some sacrifices were bound to be made.
BJP’s first list of Bihar election
The caste balance
In its first list of 71 candidates, the BJP has fielded a total of 11 candidates from Extremely Backward Class (EBC), 20 from OBC and nine women. The saffron party allotted 5 seats to Schedule Caste candidates, 1 to ST and 34 to general category.
It is not hidden from anyone that general category is considered a hard core vote bank for the BJP, and the party has given representation to other sections significantly to showcase its balance in the battle of Bihar.
In various castes, the party paid special attention to detail by distributing 15 tickets to Rajputs, 11 to Bhumihar, 7 to Brahmin and 15 to Kayastha.
The party has fielded a total of 13 women – nine in first list and two each in second and third lists.
Old vs New – What BJP did?
As it happens, some faces continue to fight elections, and some have to say good bye. While the BJP fielded both its Deputy Chief Ministers – Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha – it dropped Assembly Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav from Patna Sahib. He has been replaced by Ratnesh Kushwaha.
Several other sitting MLAs who have been dropped are – Motilal Prasad from Riga, Ramprit Paswan from Rajnagar, Jai Prakash Yadav from Narpatganj, Ram Surat Kumar from Aurai, Nikki Hembram from Katoria, Arun Sinha from Kumhrar, Amrendra Pratap from Ara, Pranav Kumar from Munger and Swarna Singh from the Gaura Bauram seat. However, most of the candidates are repeat candidates.
Another important fact, as reports said, is that 11 of these 71 candidates are from political families.
In the second list of 12 candidates, it named nine new faces, including folk singer Maithili Thakur. Two MLAs –Hayaghat MLA Ramchandra Prasad and Rosera MLA Birendra Kumar– will fight in the election again.
JDU’s first list has 0 Muslim
The JD(U) has also announced 101 candidates, with 57 names in the first list and 44 in the second. One noticeable fact was that Muslims, a key section that is considered JD(U)‘s vote bank, had no name from the community in the first list. Instead, a significant representation was given to Kurmi and Kushwaha groups (OBCs) and EBCs – another section considered loyal to Kumar and the JD(U).
In the last elections in 2020, JD9(U) fielded 11 Muslim candidates and prior to that in 2010, it had 11 Muslim faces on the list. The number has now been reduced to four. And all these four names feature on the second list for the second phase of the Bihar assembly polls.
JDU candidate Jama Khan will contest from Chainpur, Saba Zafar from Amous, Manzar Alam from Jokihat, and Shagupta Azim from Araria.
However, reports say since none of its Muslim candidates won polls the last time, hence the outcome. The list also featured 12 candidates from the Scheduled Castes (SCs) for the reserved seats.
JD(U) attempts to master caste game in Bihar
The Muslim-Yadav (MY) formula has been a longstanding pillar for the RJD, which the JD(U) is attempting to breach. The other important caste is Kurmi, to which CM Nitish Kumar belongs to.
Apart from this, the party has given tickets to 37 candidates from the Backward Classes and 22 each to the EBCs and the General Category. Scheduled Castes have been given 15 tickets while one from the Scheduled Tribes has been nominated for the polls.
Furthermore, the first list has 4 women candidates and the second has 13.