The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar appears to have traded its experiment with social engineering for a more focused consolidation of its traditional support base. A look at the list of candidates announced by the ruling alliance shows a clear shift in electoral strategy. The BJP-JDU combine (two major members of the alliance) has drastically reduced the number of Yadav and Muslim candidates this time.

Names from the NDA’s candidate lists showed that the BJP has fielded only six Yadav candidates, down from 16 in 2020, while Nitish Kumar’s JDU has nominated just eight Yadavs, compared to 18 five years ago. Together, the two main NDA constituents have halved their representation of Bihar’s most populous OBC group, which accounts for 14.2% of the state’s population.

The B

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