In Bihar, 17 LS seats have been won by same caste candidate since 2009; 8 of these by upper castes

SINCE 2009, at least 17 of Bihar’s 40 Lok Sabha seats have voted for a candidate of the same caste. Eight of these have gone to upper castes, including Rajputs, Bhumihars, Brahmins and Kayasthas.

The seats won by Rajput candidates for the past three elections are Maharajganj, Vaishali, Aurangabad and Arrah. In Maharajganj, the RJD’s Umashankar Singh won in 2009, and the BJP’s Janardhan Singh Sigriwal in 2014 and 2019; Sigriwal is seeking a third term this time. The Vaishali seat was won by the RJD’s Raghuvansh Prasad Singh in 2009, and BJP ally LJP’s Rama Kishore Singh and Veena Devi in 2014 and 2019, respectively. Devi is the NDA candidate once again. The Arrah seat was won by the JD(U)’s Mina Singh in 2009, and since 2014, has been represented by bureaucrat-turned-politician R K Singh of the BJP, who is seeking a third term this year.

The Aurangabad seat, known as Bihar’s Chittorgarh (an erstwhile Rajput bastion in Rajasthan), was once associated with the family of prominent Rajput leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Satyendra Narayan Sinha, who won the seat in 1952, 1971, 1977, 1980 and 1984. His daughter-in-law Shyama Sinha won it in 1999 and his son and former Delhi Police Commissioner Nikhil Kumar won in 2004. Since 2009, Auranganbad has been represented by Sushil Singh.

Bhumihars have won the past three times in Nawada and Munger seats. The BJP’s Bhola Singh won Nawada in 2009, followed by the BJP’s Giriraj Singh in 2014 and ally LJP’s Chandan Singh in 2019. This time, the NDA’s candidate is BJP Bhumihar leader Vivek Thakur. In Munger, while the JD(U)’s Lalan Singh won in 2009, the LJP’s Veena Devi won in 2014. In 2019, Lalan Singh wrested the seat back, and is this time the NDA candidate.

In Darbhanga seat, the