India Bloc Must Overcome the Bihar Obstacle as the Congress-RJD Split Postpones the Seat Declaration Even Before Nominations Start

In Bihar, things don’t seem to be getting better for the India bloc. At least eight candidates have been given tickets by the RJD, and sources have confirmed that Misa Bharti and Rohini Acharya, the daughters of party president Lalu Prasad, would run from Patliputra and Saran. The RJD has so far claimed 11 seats without the India Alliance making a united statement.

Meanwhile, the CPI (M) has declared Awadhesh Rai as the Begusarai candidate and awarded a ticket to Sanjay Kumar from Khagaria.

The figures demonstrate that, out of the 40 names from the INDIA bloc in Bihar, only 13 have been cleared so far. Worrisomely, nevertheless, the opposition group has not made a formal announcement about the candidates.

Congress and RJD’s battle in the state is an obvious reflection of the political turbulence inside the alliance. According to RJD insiders, Lalu Prasad’s party would not settle for anything less than thirty seats in parliament. Should the party get two seats in Jharkhand, it would be able to award Congress an additional seat in Bihar.

The Congress finds itself in a vulnerable position after a poor showing in the 2020 assembly elections. The RJD claims Tejashwi Yadav would have become the chief minister if the Congress had done well in the most recent assembly elections. Out of the 70 seats it contested, Congress had only won 19. In the current general elections, the Grand Old Party sought nine to eleven seats, but RJD is unwilling to provide more than six. The Left might win four alliance seats.

The announcement of Abhay Kushwaha’s candidature for Aurangabad by the RJD has left Nikhil Kumar, the senior leader of the Bihar Congress and the governor of both Kerala and Nagaland, taken aback. The Purnea seat is another factor in the conflict between Congress and the RJD. After merging his Jan Adhikar Party with Congress a few days before, Rajesh Ranjan, well known as Pappu Yadav, was certain that Purnea would get him a Congress ticket.

However, by admitting the EBC leader as a member, the RJD placated renegade JDU MLA Bima Bharti. Pappu Yadav posted on social media, saying, “I will die, will not leave Congress.” Will depart from this planet, but not from Purnea. The gap between the RJD and Congress was made clear by the post. Congress is also endorsing Tariq Anwar to run for the Katihar seat, a decision that RJD finds objectionable, further straining the partnership.

Akhilesh Prasad Singh, the leader of the Bihar Congress, stated: “We are optimistic that everything will work out.” Congress and RJD make up the majority of the India alliance. Within a day or two, everything will be resolved.

Just before Holi, the NDA, with the exception of LJP (R), sorted out its candidate list, allowing them time to rejoice with their followers. Both the JDU and the BJP have released lists of their 17 candidates for 16 seats each. Each of the NDA’s HAM (Hindustan Awam Morcha) and RLM (Rashtriya Lok Morcha) has one candidate, Upendra Kushwaha for RLM and Jitan Ram Manjhi for HAM. These declarations were made via a news conference last week from Delhi.

RESULTS OF THE CASTE SURVEY
OBCs and EBCs make up more than 63 per cent of the population of Bihar. More over 15% are under the unreserved category, while over 21% are SC/ST. The caste census that was done last year will serve as the basis for the Bihar elections, keeping in mind the “hissedari and bhagedari.”

The concentration is on the EBC vote bank, even if RJD is working hard to become a MY-BAAP (Muslim Yadav, Backward, Agda, Aadhi Abadi, and Poor) party. The party intends to award Kurmi/Kushwaha, a significant NDA EBC voting bank, seven seats.

The BJP has allocated 10 seats to General, 4 to OBC, 2 to EBC, and 1 to Scheduled Caste out of the 17 seats that were agreed upon. This time, no woman or Muslim has received a ticket from the BJP’s quota. No one from the Koeri caste, which is led by BJP president Samrat Chaudhary, has also been successful in obtaining a ticket. The seats are allocated as follows: General Rajputs (5 seats), Bhumihar (2 seats), Brahmin (2 seats), Kayasth (1 seat), Yadavs (3 seats), and Baniya (1 seat). Thirteen incumbent MPs have received tickets from the BJP.

Three general category seats, six backward seats, five EBC seats, and one seat each for Muslims and Mahadalit have been allotted by the JDU. Twelve JDU MPs who are currently in office have received new tickets.

This time, the BJP and JDU have refused tickets to a total of eight current Members of Parliament. The recent general elections in Bihar saw 39 out of 40 MPs belonging to the NDA.