NEW DELHI: With the announcement of Tejashwi Yadav as the chief ministerial candidate of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) on Thursday, political attention in Bihar has once again shifted to the electoral weight and consolidation of the Yadav community.
This development poses a considerable challenge for the BJP, which has long attempted to make inroads into the RJD’s traditional Yadav vote base. However, the BJP and its ally, the JD(U), have courted controversy by dropping or denying tickets to several prominent Yadav candidates within the NDA alliance — a move that appears at odds with their outreach efforts and signals a potential disconnect with the community.
By dropping nearly half a dozen influential Yadav leaders, the BJP has failed to project a positive message to the community — a move that could ultimately work to the advantage of the RJD and to the BJP’s electoral detriment.
In its bid to woo the RJD’s traditional Yadav voters, the BJP has for years sought to broaden its social base, but the party has yet to deliver a convincing message that could shift Yadav loyalty away from the RJD. This weakness has become particularly evident in the current election cycle, as the BJP leadership has dropped several well-educated and influential Yadav leaders, including Nand Kishor Yadav, the Assembly Speaker who has long represented Patna Sahib, and Dr. Nikhil Anand, the BJP’s national spokesperson and national general secretary of the OBC Morcha, who had built a strong base in the Maner Assembly seat.
Dr. Anand, who joined politics after two decades in academia and journalism and holds an MPhil and PhD, was denied a ticket from Maner after the seat was allocated to the LJP under seat-sharing arrangements. Political analysts note that caste remains a decisive factor in Bihar’s politics.
From 1990 to 2005, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), under Lalu Prasad Yadav and later Rabri Devi, dominated Bihar’s political landscape. During and after this period, the Yadav community — the state’s largest group, constituting about 14 per cent of the population — has largely remained loyal to the RJD alliance.
Data reflects this pattern: the number of Yadav MLAs in the Bihar Assembly stood at 64 in 2000, dropped to 54 in 2005, then to 39 in 2010, before rising again to 61 in 2015 and 52 in 2020. It has been observed that while leaders such as Nityanand Rai and Sanjay Jaiswal were in charge of the BJP’s Bihar unit, the party consistently received between 10 and 20 per cent of Yadav votes.
“But with the denial of tickets to many strong Yadav faces this time, the BJP has displayed a trust deficit with this community,” remarked a senior BJP leader from the Yadav community, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In the 2025 Assembly elections, the BJP has denied tickets to several Yadav leaders, including both incumbents and former candidates. Among those dropped are Assembly Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav (Patna Sahib), Pranav Yadav (Munger), Pawan Yadav (Kahalgaon), Jaiprakash Yadav (Narpatganj), former minister Ramsurat Rai (Bochahan), and Mishrilal Yadav (Alinagar).
In 2020, the BJP had fielded 15 Yadav candidates, compared to 22 in 2015. For 2025, that number has dropped to just six. Its NDA partners have shown a similar trend: the JD(U) has fielded only eight Yadav candidates, while the LJP (Ram Vilas) has given tickets to five. The figures point to a diminishing electoral reliance of the alliance on this influential OBC caste.
The JD(U), too, has denied tickets to prominent Yadavs such as Jaivardhan Yadav, grandson of former Union Minister and “Sher-e-Bihar” Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav, from Paliganj, and Nikhil Mandal, grandson of former Chief Minister and “Mandal Messiah” B.P. Mandal, from Madhepura. Like Dr. Nikhil Anand, both are highly educated and locally popular young leaders from the Yadav community.
“This is a time when not only Lalu Yadav but also his son Tejashwi Yadav are the prime targets of the NDA. There is a need for new Yadav leaders in the BJP and its allies to counter Tejashwi’s growing — and largely unchallenged — influence among Yadavs,” observed several senior BJP leaders, requesting anonymity. “The NDA, especially the BJP, should have fielded more young Yadav candidates to build a counter-narrative.”
Interestingly, the RJD too has denied tickets to a few Yadav leaders — including Shantanu Sharad Yadav, son of veteran socialist leader Sharad Yadav — but it still remains the single party to have fielded the highest number of Yadav candidates, with 52 in total.
As the campaign unfolds, the question remains whether the BJP and its allies can afford to alienate the state’s largest OBC bloc — or if the RJD will once again consolidate its traditional base under the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav.
