- By Aditya Jha
- Wed, 15 Oct 2025 10:18 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Bihar Election 2025: With just a few weeks remaining in the much-hyped Bihar Assembly election, the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal United (JDU) released its first list on Wednesday. The party has fielded six ministers and three strongmen from the key seats, apart from several other incumbent MLAs. While announcing the list, JDU stated that the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will return to power under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. However, the ticket distribution has not been easy for the party due to internal conflicts and demands from other allies, including Chirag Paswan's LJP and Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM.
The JDU has fielded the highest number of candidates from the backward class, 22 out of 57. Apart from this, the ruling party has also given tickets to 10 candidates from the extremely backward class (EBC). Nitish Kumar's party has also fielded 13 candidates from the general category and 12 from the Scheduled Castes (SC).
JDU has fielded four candidates from the Dhanuk caste, two from the Teli community, two from Mallah, one from Kanu, one from Kalwar, 10 from Kurmi, nine from Kushwaha, three from Yadav, five from Ravidas, four from Musahar-Manjhi, one from Dhobi, one from Pasi, one from Paswan, six from Bhumihar, five from Rajput, and two from Brahmin.
CM Nitish Kumar and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan had found themselves at odds for the Sonbarsa seat. At present, the seat is held by JDU leader and Minister Ratnesh Sada, and the party has fielded him once again. Manoranjan Singh, also known as Dhumal Singh, has been declared JDU’s candidate from the Ekma seat.
Dhumal Singh has over 100 cases registered against him in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Mumbai, and Jharkhand. In his affidavit for the 2015 assembly elections, the leader had stated that he had nine criminal cases pending against him. These included four murder cases and one attempted murder case.