Bihar Local School Polls: Despite criticism of dynasty politics, it’s all in the family

As in the past, both coalitions in Bihar have found dynasty politics to be equally handy in the Lok Sabha polls, despite all the hoopla against it.

The son of former federal minister and state BJP president Dr. CP Thakur, Vivek Thakur is a member of the Rajya Sabha from Nawada, which had elections in the first phase. The BJP has labeled this tendency as the most hazardous.

Sushil Singh, the current MP and BJP candidate from Aurangabad, is the son of previous MP Ram Naresh Singh. While his father had won twice in 1989 and 1991, Sushil Singh has won the seat four consecutive times in consecutively since 2009.

This time, Misa Bharti from Pataliputra and Rohini Acharya from Saran, the daughters of RJD chairman Lalu Prasad, are running for office. This is Rohini’s first election, and Lalu Prasad spent two days camping out there.

Former Bihar minister Sarvjeet Kumar is running against HAM-S leader Jitan Ram Manjhi in Gaya on behalf of the RJD. The son of Rajesh Kumar, a former MP from Gaya, is Sarvjeet. In the first phase, there was an election for Gaya.

Sudhakar Singh, the son of state RJD president Jagdanand Singh, is involved in the conflict in Buxar. In 2009, Jagdanand secured the seat and finished second in both 2014 and 2019. Meanwhile, lawmaker Sudhakar has not yet secured a seat in the Lok Sabha.

Purnea’s RJD candidate is Bima Bharti, the incarcerated strongman Awadhesh Mandal’s wife. Her previous JD-U ticket had secured her a seat in the Rupauli legislature.

Anita Mahto, the RJD candidate from Munger running against JD-U’s Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh, married notorious gangster Ashok Mahto just before polls.

Shambhavi Choudhary, the daughter of JD-U minister Ashok Choudhary, is running on the LJP ticket for the Samastipur (reserved) seat in her first election. Being the youngest contender in Bihar, her father has been working really hard to ensure her win.

The other newcomer facing her is Sunny Hazari, the son of JD-U minister Maheshwar Hazari. He received a ticket from the Congress to fill a position that had previously been held by both his grandpa and father.

Veena Devi, the wife of JD-U MLC Dinesh Singh, is a candidate from Vaishali running on the LJP-R platform. She was the only member of the Paras camp to be kept after switching over, having previously secured a seat on a LJP ticket.

JD-U has also fielded Siwan native Vijay Lakshmi. She is the spouse of Ramesh Kumar Kushwaha, a former MLA. The JD-U candidate from Sheohar is Lovely Anand, the wife of Anand Mohan Singh, a former MP.

Aakash Singh, the son of Bihar Congress president Akhilesh Singh, is expected to get a party ticket from Maharajganj. His previous attempt to win the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) seat in the East Champaran Lok Sabha was unsuccessful.

Anshul Kumar, the son of Congress leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, is expected to run for the party’s seat in Patna Sahib, a BJP stronghold. He is a rookie and will face current MP and veteran BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Arun Bharti, the brother-in-law of LJP-R chairman Chirag Paswan, has entered the race for the first time from the Jamui seat. LJP-R leader Chirag Paswan gave his brother-in-law his legacy in Jammu after defeating his uncle in the legacy battle in Hajipur.

This year, Chirag, a two-time MP from Jamui, will run from Hajipur, a seat his father held for nine times until his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras won it in 2019.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his Bihar leg of the election campaign in Jamui, and he subsequently traveled to Nawada as well, which led the RJD to question his stance on dynasty politics.

According to social researcher Nawal Kishore Choudhary, dynasty politics are an unpleasant reality that has affected all parties. “There is very little room for new entrants or those without the strong support of any party or money power due to the evolving dynamics of elections.” The issue is that no party is prepared to buck this tendency, which undervalues the contributions made by party workers. All political parties rely only on well-known chatter during election seasons, taking their employees for granted. Candidates are now content to attend any party in exchange for tickets, he said.

Throughout his “Jan Suraj Yatra,” former electoral consultant Prashant Kishor has often said that “dynastic politics,” rather than caste politics, have been thriving in Bihar for decades.