Post Mandal politics in Bihar changing electoral patterns.pdf

Contemporary South Asia, 2019

2014

The present paper aims at exploring and analyzing inter-linkages between caste and politics in Bihar. The paper argues that even in the pre-independence period, Bihar politics was dominated by the ‘twice-born’ castes. However, the gradual assertion of the lower and backward castes had its impact on the state politics also. The erstwhile dominance of upper castes was effectively challenged and to a certain extent was replaced by the emerging backward castes. This paper analyses this transition through caste based mobilization for electoral participation. The Bihar Assembly Elections of 1967, 1990, 2005 and 2010 are briefly discussed. Their significance lies in the fact that in 1967, the Congress ‘System’ suffered cracks for the first time; 1990 saw the consolidation of lower as well as backward castes and elections in 2005 and 2010 shifted the locus of power from one backward caste Yadavs to combination of other two backward castes Kurmi and Koeri along with ‘twice-born’ castes. Thus, politics in Bihar has come to a phase wherein absolute dominance of either backward or ‘twice born’ castes seems difficult.

Emergence of regional states in contemporary India as an effective arena for political and economic development has given state-level leaders a growing power. In the present coalition era, which reflects such regionalisation, this brings increasing prominence to effective state-based parties and their leaders. Focusing on recent politics of Bihar, this article shows in what ways Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, since 2005, unlike his predecessor Lalu Yadav, comes across as 'unusual'. Setting aside neo-patrimonial political tendencies, much in vogue among the new crop of state leaders, Nitish Kumar has instead focused on channelling both private and public resources to provide quality governance in an erstwhile 'failed state'. This, more than rootedness in a traditional community or vote bank, may largely explain continued electoral success, though a leader also depends on those around him, with all the risks for effective implementation that this entails.

Issues in Social Science

This report is about a critical analysis of elections in Odisha over the past few decades. Diverse social groups in the state have been politicised and mobilised for electoral purposes based on social cleavages, rather than common economic interest, ideology or leadership. A theoretical framework has been developed in almost every district to analyse and trace the processes of tradition and reconfiguration of the electoral landscape. It answers the questions: What message does the state hold for Parliament or assembly elections? How do the people, who belong to a state, respond to national and state leaderships? Our state has been receiving appreciation as a platform where mainstream politics unfolds and, in a significant way, shapes the national politics including the formation and stability of the government at the Centre, a trend that started in the post-Congress polity. But it may raise a lot of questions among the political pundits and strategic gurus about how the new style of...

One would assume that legislative assembly elections in one of India’s poorest state, Bihar cannot pose a challenge for the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which won a landslide last May, acquiring 336 out of the 543 seats of the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of the Indian Parliament. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development mantra and personal charisma did not seem to be convincing enough for the state’s predominantly Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), and Muslim vote bank. Held between 12 October and 5 November 2015, the Bihar assembly elections resulted in the victory of the incumbent Chief Minister (CM) Nitish Kumar-led ‘Grand Alliance’ by winning the majority with 178 seats out of 243. In contrast, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies got only 58, while the Left Front, led by Sitaram Yechuri’s Communist Party of India (CPI (M)) won only 3 seats.

IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science, 2014

The Constitution of India provides for a bicameral Parliament consisting of the President and two Houses known as the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and the House of the People (Lok Sabha). With an over a billion people, the Republic of India is the world's largest democracy. The Lok Sabha elections will be held to 543 constituencies of India, while two seats will be reserved for nominations from the Anglo-Indian community. West Bengal has 42 parliamentary constituencies, out of which, 10 are reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, and 2 are reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Tribes. The state has held regular elections since independence and is known for its political activism. West Bengal elects 42 representatives to the lower house of the Parliament or Lok Sabha, the third highest in the country. The present exercise examines how far the distribution of votes of a party in one election follows the distribution in the preceding election. The parties with well-defined socioeconomic bases show up well in terms of spatial support consistency. The data has been collected from Election Commission of India for two consecutive Lok Sabha election 2009 & 2014 respectively for comparative study of the voting pattern in the state. The data consist of parliamentary constituency-wise voting pattern of electors, party-wise votes, and voter turnout in 42 constituencies over two elections. The study uses the cartographic technique like pie diagram, bar diagram and proportional circles to show the different pattern of voting for analysis. It has been observed that major political events cast their shadows on electoral politics due to which the spatial patterns of support leads to change in political landscape in West Bengal. The support pattern of the AITC is increasing whereas the Left Front which had ruled the government in the state consecutively for 34 years is losing their votes pattern. AITC has swept the state comprehensively, and with 34 parliamentary seats won in 2014 election, it has emerged as the fourth largest political party in India.