-The Telegraph The state's largest minority community has held key ministerial and other constitutional posts whether under the rule of Congress, Samyukta Socialist Party, Janata Party, Janata Dal or the RJD Patna: Bihar has for the first time since Independence got a ruling coalition without a single MLA from its largest minority community. None of the four parties in the National Democratic Alliance — the BJP, Janata Dal United, Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular...
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Bihar elections: What stands between Nitish Kumar and a possible fourth term? -Santosh Singh and Dipankar Ghose
-The Indian Express The Bihar election is being seen as a referendum on Nitish Kumar and his slogan of sushasan or good governance. With the cracks beginning to show days ahead of the first phase of polling for the Bihar Assembly elections, we listen to voices on the ground to see what stands between Nitish and a possible fourth term. Nitish Kumar ko gussa kyon aata hai (why does Nitish Kumar get...
More »Explained: What constitutes the Mahagathbandhan and what is its social composition?
-The Indian Express The RJD is banking mainly on Yadav (14% of the state population) and Muslim (17%) votes, and hopes the Congress will get it upper caste and Dalit votes. New Delhi, Patna: The Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance constitutes primarily the RJD and Congress. The Left parties CPI (M-L), CPI and CPM, which have some support base in Bihar, are the new entrants to the alliance. Having lost partners in the...
More »The BJP’s widening social base -Vikas Pathak
-The Hindu Securing largely upper caste-OBC alliances has propelled the BJP to great heights and has also impacted Dalit politics Political alignments in Bihar for the forthcoming elections offer a peek into the various ways the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constructs its electoral building blocks. Taking into consideration the specificities of each State, the NDA has been able to secure the votes of the upper castes as well as large sections...
More »The lessons from Jharkhand assembly poll results
-Hindustan Times Indian democracy is robust. The balance is good for the polity The Jharkhand election, in which a coalition of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has succeeded in dislodging the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, is a reflection of a broader pattern in national politics. For one, it shows, yet again, that the BJP is vulnerable at the state level — and Narendra Modi’s popularity at the...
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