NEW DELHI: Chief minister Nitish Kumar‘s Janata Dal (United) on Wednesday launched its first record of 57 candidates forward of the Bihar meeting elections.JD(U), which is trying to retain energy within the state, has fielded 30 new faces, whereas 27 sitting MLAs have been renominated.The announcement comes as Nationwide Democratic Alliance (NDA) companions proceed to ship blended alerts over seat allocations, simply days after the seat-sharing deal was finalized. Below the association, JD(U) and BJP will contest 101 seats every, Lok Janshakti Get together (Ram Vilas) 29 seats, and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) six seats every.
Chirag-Nitish showdown: Spherical 2?The upcoming election seems to be a sequel to the earlier meeting polls, when chief minister Nitish Kumar and Chirag Paswan clashed after the latter broke away from the NDA to contest independently. In 2020, although Chirag’s social gathering received only one seat out of 135 contested, it inflicted heavy injury on JD(U), defeating its candidates in over two dozen constituencies and lowering Nitish’s social gathering to 43 seats — its lowest tally ever.This time, JD(U) has fielded candidates in 5 constituencies reportedly eyed by Chirag’s Lok Janshakti Get together (Ram Vilas).JD(U) named Komal Singh (Gaighat), Ratnesh Sada (Sonbarsa), Vidyasagar Singh Nishad (Morwa), Rajkumar Singh (Matihani) and Kaushal Kishore (Rajgir). Notably, two of those 5 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes – a key voter base for LJP (RV).Forged arithmetic at playAs in each Bihar election, caste has been a decisive think about candidate choice and JD(U)’s record appears to try to steadiness the equation. Banking on its social justice plank, the social gathering has given tickets to 23 OBC candidates that embrace 9 Kushwahas, 10 Kurmis, three Yadavs, and one Baniya. It has additionally fielded 12 Scheduled Caste candidates.As well as, 9 Extraordinarily Backward Caste (EBC) nominees – JD(U)’s largest help base – are within the fray.Amongst higher castes, 13 candidates have been fielded – six Bhumihars, 5 Rajputs, and two Brahmins.No Muslim candidates in first recordJD(U) has not fielded a single Muslim candidate in its first record, a notable omission given the social gathering’s conventional enchantment amongst Muslim voters inside the NDA.Within the 2020 meeting elections, JD(U) fielded 11 Muslim candidates out of 115 seats, none of whom received. The determine, round 10%, was already decrease than the neighborhood’s share of Bihar’s inhabitants (over 15%).Cupboard ministers within the recordJD(U) has fielded 5 of the cupboard ministers from CM Nitish Kumar’s cupboard. Those that have made the minimize are: Shravan Kumar (Nalanda), Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (Sararanjan), Maheshwar Hazari (Kalyanpur), Madan Sahni (Bahadurpur) and Ratnesh Sada (Sonbarsa).Girls, turncoats rewardedThe social gathering has additionally fielded 4 ladies candidates: Komal Singh (Gaighat), Ashwamedh Devi (Samastipur), Ravina Kushwaha (Vibhutipur) and Kavita Kumari Saha (Madhepura).Turncoats, too, have discovered house. Shyam Rajak, who rejoined JD(U) after quitting RJD final yr, and strongman Anant Kumar Singh, who has filed his nomination from Mokama, are amongst these fielded.The Election Fee has introduced the schedule for the Bihar Meeting elections. The 243 meeting seats will go to the polls in two phases on November 6 and November 11, with the counting of votes scheduled to happen on November 14.The full variety of electors within the ultimate record stands at 7.42 crore, whereas there have been 7.89 crore electors as of June 24 this yr. An Election Fee press launch acknowledged that 65 lakh voters have been faraway from the draft record, and the variety of electors within the draft record as of August 1, 2025, stood at 7.24 crore.Within the 2020 meeting election, the BJP contested 110 seats and received 74, securing 19.8% of the vote share. The Janata Dal (United) contested 115 seats and received 43, with a 15.7% vote share. The Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) contested seven seats, successful 4, and achieved 0.9% of the vote share.