Bihar Assembly Election 2020: Know caste calculus of ticket distribution by BJP-RJD-Congress

BJP has released the first list of candidates on 27 seats of the first phase of the Bihar assembly election 2020. RJD has so far announced the names of its candidates in 41 seats. While the BJP has played bet on the upper caste community in more than half the seats, the RJD has fielded OBCs, especially the Yadav community.

Thursday is the last day for nomination for 71 seats of the first phase of Bihar assembly elections. This is why after seat sharing, BJP has released the first list of candidates on 27 seats of the first phase late on Tuesday. RJD has so far announced the names of its candidates in 41 seats. While the BJP has played bet on the upper caste community in more than half the seats, the RJD has fielded the OBCs, especially the Yadav community.

BJP's 60% upper caste candidates
BJP has expressed confidence in the upper caste community in 16 of the 27 seats in the first phase. The BJP has given seven tickets to the Rajput candidates, giving tickets to 6 Bhumihars and 3 Brahmins to exercise their core vote bank. Also, by providing tickets to 3 Yadav candidates, the BJP has decided to make a dent in the original vote bank of RJD. Apart from this, BJP has given the ticket to 3 scheduled castes, one tribal, one Vaishya, one Bind, one Dangi, and one Chandravanshi. BJP has also fielded five women candidates and has given ticket to three new faces.

Name of BJP candidate
BJP has Pawan Kumar Yadav from Kahalgaon, Ramnarayan Mandal from Banka, Nikki Hembram from Katoria, Pranav Kumar Yadav from Munger, Vijay Kumar Sinha from Lakhisarai, Gyanendra Kumar Singh Gyanu from Baadh, Atul Kumar from Vikram, Raghavendra Pratap Singh from Barhara, from Ara Amarendra Pratap Singh, Kaushal Kumar Singh from Tarari, Munni Devi from Shahpur, Ashok Singh from Ramgarh, Niranjan Ram from Mohania, Riki Rani Pandey from Bhabua, Brijkishore Bind from Chainpur, Satyanarayan Singh Yadav from Dehri, Rajeshwar Raj from Karakat, Manoj from Goh. Sharma, Ramadhar Singh from Aurangabad, Hari Manjhi from Bodh Gaya, Prem Kumar from Gaya City, Virender Singh from Wazirganj, Kanhaiya Rajwar from Rajauli, Anil Singh from Hisua, Aruna Devi from Warsaliganj, Shreyasi Singh from Jamui.

Half the tickets of RJD to the names of Yadavs
RJD has announced the names of candidates for 41 seats in the first phase. RJD has taken full care of the caste equation in selecting candidates but has shown the most confidence in the Yadav community. Apart from this, the party has also focused on Dalits and the most backward. After the separation of Upendra Kushwaha, the RJD has also tried to help the Koiri society. Apart from this, two Rajputs, one Brahmin, one Bhumihar, and one Vaishya have been given an assembly ticket. 

The RJD has fielded candidates from the 23 most backward communities, out of which 20 are candidates of the Yadav community. Apart from this, 8 Scheduled Castes have been given tickets, of which Ravidas, Mushar, and Paswan are candidates. One Scheduled Tribe, three Extremely Backward Communities and two Muslim candidates have been fielded. The RJD has also fielded ten women candidates in the first phase. This time RJD denied half a dozen sitting MLAs tickets. These include Bijender Prasad from Obra, Subedar Das from Makhdumpur, Kunti Devi from Attri. Ara, Arwal, Paliganj, and Karakat seating seats have gone to Male's account.

Tickets to family members 
Apart from the sons and daughters of their leaders, the RJD has also given tickets to wives. RJD state president Jagdanand Singh's son Sudhakar Singh from Ramgarh, national party vice-president Shivanand Tiwari's son Rahul Tiwari from Shahpur, former union minister Kanti Singh's son Rishi Singh Obra to former minister Jayaprakash Yadav's daughter Divya Prakash Tarapur are all showpiece of nepotism in Bihar Politics. Apart from these, Vibha Devi, wife of MLA Rajaballabh Yadav, has got a ticket from Nawada, while Kiran Devi, wife of MLA Arun Yadav, has been given ticket to contest election from the Sandesh assembly seat.

Congress fielded candidates for 21 seats
The Congress has announced the names of the candidates for the 21 assembly seats of the first phase. These include Shubhanand Mukesh from Kahalgaon, Shashi Shekhar from Wazirganj, Gajanand Shahi from Barbigha, Satish Kumar Singh alias Manatan Singh from Warisleganj, Neetu Kumari from Hisua, Munna Tiwari from Buxar, Siddharth from Bikram, Rajesh Ram from Kutumba, Anand Shankar Singh from Aurangabad. Sudhir Kumar Urpant Bunty Chaudhary from Sikandra, Santosh Mishra from Kharghar, Lalan Kumar from Sultanganj, Amresh Kumar Aneesh from Lakhisarai, Jitendra Singh from Amarpur, Mohan Srivastava from Gaya, Murari Prasad Gautam from Chenari, Vishwanath Ram from Rajpur, Prakash Kumar from Chainpur Singh, Satyendra Bahadur from Flood, Tekari and Ashok Gagan and Mo. Kamran from Gobindpur has given ticket to contest the  Bihar assembly election 2020.

Congress also played the upper caste card
The Congress has announced the names of the candidates on the 21 seats of the first phase. The Congress has given the maximum ticket of 14 to the upper castes, among them Bhumihar 6, Rajput 5, Brahmin 2, and Kayastha candidate 1. Simultaneously, by giving four tickets from SC, two from backward classes, and one from the Muslim community, they have tried to revive their old equation.