How Bihar NDA sidelines EBCs in seat allotment despite vote-bank loyalty

The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar, led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, talks incessantly of its "EBC (Extremely Backward Castes)-centric politics”, but the reality on the ground is different.

It is certainly not the EBCs but the upper castes — the Savarnas — that continue to dominate NDA's electoral politics. This is evident from the fact that NDA candidates hailing from the upper castes vastly outnumber those from the EBCs communities, locally called the 'Ati Pitchhda' (extremely backward), for next month’s two-phase Assembly polls.

While EBC generally stands for the economically backward classes, in Bihar, it refers to "extremely backward castes".

Not just BJP, but allies too

It is not only the BJP, which is generally associated with the upper castes, that is under the scanner here. The saffron party's four NDA allies in Bihar—the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal-United [JD(U)], the Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) [LJP(RV)], the Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) [HAM(S)], and the Upendra Kushwaha-led Rastriya Lok Morcha [RLM]—are not lagging either in this issue.

What has surprised many observers is that the LJP (RV), which has a Dalit leadership, has chosen more upper-caste faces than Dalits for the November Bihar elections.

A chunk of their seats have gone to the upper castes, which constitute just 10.57 per cent of Bihar’s total population. This shows the dominance the upper castes enjoy in the state’s politics despite a decades-old socialist movement.

Mahagathbandhan is no different

The story is not vastly different for the Opposition Mahagathbandhan's two major parties — the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress. They also did not pick adequate candidates from the EBCs to ensure proportionate political representation of the MBCs or EBCs.

“We are important for all due to our sizeable population in flood-prone Mithilanchal, Kosi and Seemanchal regions, to the drought-prone Magadh region, but are not an organised community (politically)," Ashok Kumar, a lawyer and an EBC activist in Patna, told The Federal.

Also read: Why NDA fielded only 5 Muslim faces in Bihar elections

"We are neither powerful like the upper castes nor dominant like the OBCs. Nitish Kumar has done a lot to empower us, yet it is still a long way to get proportionate political representation,” he added.

According to the Bihar caste survey report of 2023, EBCs constitute 36.01 per cent of the state’s population. They comprise over 110 small sub-castes, including fishermen, boatmen, blacksmiths, potters, carpenters, barbers, halwais (confectioners), etc., and are the single-largest social group coming under the EBC category.

NDA fields just 36 EBC candidates

Of the 243 candidates of the NDA contesting this year’s elections, just 36 are from the EBCs, forming 14.81 per cent of the total.

The EBCs are considered more loyal to the JD(U) than any other party. Of the 101 candidates that Nitish’s outfit has fielded for this election, 22 are from the EBCs, which is equal to the number of its upper caste candidates.

Nitish Kumar could have taken the big step by fielding at least 36 per cent of candidates from EBCs, per their population, to set a new trend. But he developed cold feet like the others.

“At least Nitish’s JD(U) should have shown a large-hearted approach towards the EBCs, its traditional and core support base. This exposed its double talk on the social justice for them,” said Rupesh Kumar, a political observer.

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The BJP, which has also fielded 101 candidates, has picked only 10 from the EBCs. The LJP (RV) has only four of its 29 candidates from the category. The HAM(S) and RLM have not picked a single candidate from the EBCs.

NDA's upper-caste faces

Overall, the NDA has picked 85 of its 243 candidates from the upper castes. Of them, the BJP has 49. What has surprised many observers is that the LJP (RV), which has a Dalit leadership, has chosen more upper-caste faces than Dalits. Ten of its 29 candidates are from the upper castes, as against eight from the Dalits, who constitute 19 per cent of the state’s population.

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The HAM(S) of Manji — a Dalit — has two of its six candidates from the upper castes. The RLM has also done likewise.

To understand the dominance of the upper caste in Bihar politics, the 2024 general elections saw the election of 12 MPs from different parties belonging to the upper castes, which is 30 per cent of the total number of Lok Sabha seats (40) in the state. In the 2019 polls, 13 upper-caste candidates were elected as MPs from different parts of the state.

The BJP alone fielded 10 candidates in the 2024 parliamentary polls who belonged to the upper castes, which was nearly 60 per cent of its total candidates (17).

After the 2020 Assembly elections in Bihar, a survey conducted by CSDS, Delhi, said the majority of the EBCs — about 58 per cent — had voted for the NDA. There is no doubt that during his two decades in power in Bihar, Nitish has created an EBC vote bank for himself with a slew of schemes.

'Nitish still better'

One political analyst said it is Nitish who brought EBCs back in the focus of politics and policy after the legendary former CM and BC leader Karpoori Thakur.

“Nitish Kumar is still a better option for us compared to the BJP, RJD and Congress. He (Nitish) should have taken the big step to field at least 36 per cent candidates from EBCs as per their population to set a new trend. But he developed cold feet like others,” the analyst told The Federal.

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Thakur, who belonged to the Nai (barber) community — an EBC — was the first to announce 12 per cent reservation for EBCs, which was increased to 20 per cent by the Nitish government.

In a poor state

The analyst further said that despite Nitish staying in power since 2005, the EBCs have seen the highest rate of poverty and migration rate. The latest socio-economic data (caste survey) revealed that one-third of the state’s families are poor and living in abject poverty, with their monthly income at a mere Rs 6,000 or less.

Most of such families belong to the SCs, STs, EBCs and OBCs.

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As per the report’s findings, poverty is rampant in Bihar, with 34.13 per cent of all families in the state marked as poor. But the number of poor families is highest among the SCs (42.93 per cent) and STs (42.7 per cent), followed by the EBCs (33.58 per cent) and OBCs (33.16 per cent).

NDA picks just 5 Muslim candidates

When it comes to picking Muslim faces, too, the NDA has settled for just five of them, with four coming from the JD(U) alone and the remaining from the LJP(RV). The ruling alliance has done this despite the minority community making up 17 per cent of the state population.

The BJP, HAM and RLM have not fielded any Muslim candidate. The Grand Alliance has picked 30 Muslim candidates, which include the RJD's 18, Congress's 10 and the CPI-ML's two.

Also read: How Nitish Kumar and past regimes let Bihar down economically

The Grand Alliance, while giving preference to upper-caste candidates, has, however, launched the 'Ati Pichhda Nyay Sankalp' (Resolve for Justice for the Extremely Backward) initiative in September to reach out to EBCs ahead of the key polls.