Patna: The C word looms large over the upcoming Bihar bypolls for the Araria Lok Sabha constituency and the Jehanabad and Bhabhua Assembly seats. Both the BJP-led NDA camp and the Congress-led UPA camps have pinned hopes on equations of caste.
In Araria, the BJP has selected Pradeep Singh, who comes from the EBC (Extremely Backward Classes), as he, apart from being a well known face in the area, belongs to a community that has about four lakh votes, revealed a BJP insider.
The RJD has fielded Sarfaraz Alam, son of the late former MP Mohammad Taslimuddin, whose death necessitated the bypoll.
Out of the roughly 17 lakh voters in the Araria seat, around 6 lakh voters are from the minority community and more than 1.5 lakh voters are Yadavs. The non-Yadav OBC (Other Backward Classes) voters have around 1.5 lakh votes while EBCs constitute around 25 to 30 per cent of the voters.
"For us, adding other caste votes in addition to those of Muslims and Yadavs is the main challenge," said an RJD leader. "We are trying to extend our vote base among Dalits and also a section of upper caste voters."
In Jehanabad, the RJD is hoping for a division of Dalit and non-Yadav OBC votes due to dissent in the NDA camp.
"We are hoping to get a chunk of non-Yadav OBC votes and also from the Dalit community as Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP and Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAMS wanted to contest the seat," said an RJD insider. "As both the parties were denied tickets by the NDA and the JDU was given preference, we are trying to garner a chunk of Kushwaha and Dalit votes in the constituency in addition to our traditional Yadav and Muslim votes."
Yadavs, with around 40,000 voters, are the most prominent caste in the Assembly seat, followed by Bhumihars (around 30,000 voters).
The RJD has fielded Suday Yadav from Jehanabad, and the JDU has put up former MLA Abhiram Sharma, a Bhumihar. There are around 40,000 Dalit voters in the constituency, and the Kurmi and Kushwaha castes have around 10,000 each.
In the Bhabhua seat, while the NDA camp is banking on the sympathy vote and caste combination, the UPA too is trying hard to make a dent in the NDA votes. The Congress has fielded Shambhu Singh Patel, a Kurmi.
Bihar Congress working president Kaukab Quadri has said on record that the party is confident of winning the seat on the basis of the caste equation.
The NDA camp is trying hard to check division in the Kurmi votes as they are considered to be staunch supporters of chief minister Nitish Kumar, who belongs to the same caste. The NDA sent Nitish's confidant and Kurmi leader Shravan Kumar to Bhabhua when BJP candidate Rinky Rani Devi filed her papers for the seat on Tuesday.
"We may not play the caste factor overtly during campaigning and seek people's support in the name of development and other issues, but it would finally boil down to caste," admitted a senior BJP leader.
