Bihar Assembly Elections 2025 | Grand alliance fishes for Nishad votes

Muzaffarpur: “Ham tah Nitish-e ji ke vote debai...” (I will vote only for Nitish Kumar), says Sangita Sahani, as her husband grins from a charpoy beside her. He wants change and plans to support Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party. But Sangita remains firm. Under Nitish’s leadership, she says, she found not just government benefits but also peace and stability — something she doesn’t want disturbed.

Sahani is among the one crore women said to have received Rs 10,000 from the state government under the Jeevika Mission just weeks before the election. She used the money to invest in the kirana shop she runs with her husband.

The Sahani couple hails from Badanpur Milki, a village in Vaishali district located along the Patna-Muzaffarpur highway. At the village entrance stands a toran gate bearing the inscription: ‘Nishad Kul Gaurav Eklavya Dwar’.

This is one of the Mallah-dominated villages in the region heading to polls on November 6. With a 2.6% vote share, the Mallah sub-caste holds numerical strength within the Nishad community, whose lives and livelihoods have traditionally revolved around waterbodies. Districts such as Muzaffarpur, Vaishali and Begusarai have some of the highest concentrations of Nishad population.

With the election being described as a tight contest between the I.N.D.I.A. bloc and the NDA, the Nishad community has emerged as a crucial caste group.

Classified as an Extremely Backward Community (EBC), the Hindu Nishads — including the Mallah, Kevat, Bind, Turha and Manjhi sub-castes — account for 4.5% of the vote share, according to the state government’s 2022 caste survey.

Traditionally seen as loyal supporters of Nitish’s JD(U), the EBC vote bank is one the grand alliance is keen to tap into. In a strategic move, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav allied with Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani, offering him 18 seats as part of the seat-sharing arrangement. He also promised to appoint Sahani as Deputy Chief Minister if the alliance wins.

This arithmetic makes sense when viewed against the 2020 election results, where the margin of victory was a mere 12,000 votes. The NDA returned to power with 37.26% of the vote, while the Mahagathbandhan secured 37.23%.

It is this razor-thin gap that has prompted the grand alliance to woo voters like the Sahanis of Bandanpur Milki into its fold.

On Sunday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a plunge into a pond in Begusarai and swam during a campaign with Mukesh Sahani, aiming to connect with the fishing community.

In Telia village of Muzaffarpur district, a group of youngsters from the Mallah community sat playing cards, their political opinions divided. One voiced concern that Tejashwi’s return could revive the “rule of criminals”, while praising Nitish and the NDA for having “done a lot of work”. Another countered that change was necessary.

When asked about the women in their households, they shrugged and said, “These days, women cast their vote independently,” a remark that hinted at the chief minister’s popularity.

In Muzaffarpur town, near the Dadar bridge over the Burhi Gandak river, the fishermen community appeared similarly split — some backing Nitish, others leaning towards Tejashwi, and a few voicing support for Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party.

Casting the net

Mallah sub-caste holds 2.6% vote share; key part of Nishad community Nishads (EBC) make up 4.5% of Bihar’s electorate Rahul Gandhi swims in Begusarai pond to woo fishing community Fisherfolk divided across NDA, I.N.D.I.A bloc and Jan Suraaj Women voters seen as loyal to Nitish