JD(U) Announces Candidates For All 101 Seats, Prioritises OBC And EBC Representation

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) have released all 101 candidates who will be contesting the Bihar Assembly polls. Over half of the candidates belong to the backward and extremely backward classes, besides four Muslims, PTI reported. 

The party has come out with a caste-wise break-up of the nominations with OBCs (37), EBCs (22), and upper castes (22). The dearth of Muslim candidates have raised suspicions whether the JD(U) has now given up on the minority vote, given its long alliance with the BJP and inability to take an independent stance on sensitive issues like the Waqf.

Almost all ministers who are not a part of the legislative council have been given a chance to retain their seat including Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Zama Khan, Sheela Mandal and Leshi Singh. 

Turncoat Vibha Devi, who joined the party less than a week ago, will seek to retain Nawada, which she had won five years ago as an RJD candidate, while Chetan Anand, who is the sitting MLA from Sheohar, has been fielded from Nabinagar.

Sheohar, where local JD(U) MP Lovely Anand happens to be the mother of the sitting MLA, has been given to Shweta Gupta, a medical practitioner based in Sitamarhi, who was formerly associated with the BJP.

The decision may have been taken in view of the fact that Aurangabad district, of which Nabinagar is a part, is a Rajput stronghold, thereby known as ‘Chittorgarh of Bihar’, while Sheohar has a sizable number of Vaishyas.

Alleged betrayers like don-turned-politician Anant Singh, who had quit the JD(U) a decade ago and contested the last couple of elections as an independent and, then, on an RJD ticket, has been given the party ticket again from Mokama.

Another turncoat from the RJD is Bulo Mandal, a former MP from Bhagalpur, who had been in political wilderness since losing the seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Former MPs like Dulal Chandra Goswami, Mahabali Singh and Chandraeshwar Chandravanshi, who had failed to retain their parliamentary seats in last year’s general elections, have also been offered a chance for political rehabilitation in the form of tickets for the assembly polls.

With PTI inputs