Prashant Kishor’s role in the Bihar elections continues to grow. The backroom tactician who helped Narendra Modi sail to a landslide victory in the 2014 general elections is now helping prepare the list of candidates for the Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal. Not only that, his Indian Political Action Committee is in talks with the Congress, the third constituent of Bihar’s grand alliance, to assist it in the forthcoming polls.
Kishor’s appointment as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s election strategist hadn’t gone down well with JD(U) leaders, who made their resentment apparent. But that didn’t curb Nitish Kumar’s reliance on Kishor. Quite the opposite: the dependence grew over months.
His Indian Political Action Committee, or I-PAC, has now created a series of caste-combination charts for all the assembly constituencies. “These charts have been prepared after crunching different kinds of constituency-specific data to come up with the right candidate choice for the seat,” said a member of I-PAC on condition of anonymity.
Though the charts don’t mention names, they do specify which caste’s candidate could build a caste alliance in the constituency.
Prominent role
“At present, the leaders of the JD(U) and RJD are working with us,” the I-PAC member said, “but soon Congress will also be on board.” According to Congress insiders, Kishor has conducted initial discussions with the party’s state-level leaders and will soon hold talks with the central leadership.
Though he has only recommended candidates, senior leaders of the JD(U) and RJD feel Kishor could ultimately have a major say in finalising the grand alliance’s contenders. The final list of candidates is likely to be ready in a week, both the I-PAC member and the leaders of JD(U) and RJD said.
According to sources, I-PAC’s role in candidate selection is prominent especially in constituencies with a sizeable population of extremely backward classes, the lower strata of Other Backward Classes. The EBCs and the Mahadalits (the poorest among Dalits) are the two social categories that Nitish Kumar has nurtured openly over the past decade.
“Yadavs [an OBC caste] and Bhumihars [an upper caste] are the two castes the EBCs find difficult to gel with,” said the I-PAC member. “While Bhumihars are almost entirely with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Yadavs are the core voters of the grand alliance. Despite Nitish Kumar having wide acceptability among EBCs, if the alliance does not choose its candidates carefully these crucial voters may simply shift to the other side.”
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Kishor’s appointment as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s election strategist hadn’t gone down well with JD(U) leaders, who made their resentment apparent. But that didn’t curb Nitish Kumar’s reliance on Kishor. Quite the opposite: the dependence grew over months.
His Indian Political Action Committee, or I-PAC, has now created a series of caste-combination charts for all the assembly constituencies. “These charts have been prepared after crunching different kinds of constituency-specific data to come up with the right candidate choice for the seat,” said a member of I-PAC on condition of anonymity.
Though the charts don’t mention names, they do specify which caste’s candidate could build a caste alliance in the constituency.
Prominent role
“At present, the leaders of the JD(U) and RJD are working with us,” the I-PAC member said, “but soon Congress will also be on board.” According to Congress insiders, Kishor has conducted initial discussions with the party’s state-level leaders and will soon hold talks with the central leadership.
Though he has only recommended candidates, senior leaders of the JD(U) and RJD feel Kishor could ultimately have a major say in finalising the grand alliance’s contenders. The final list of candidates is likely to be ready in a week, both the I-PAC member and the leaders of JD(U) and RJD said.
According to sources, I-PAC’s role in candidate selection is prominent especially in constituencies with a sizeable population of extremely backward classes, the lower strata of Other Backward Classes. The EBCs and the Mahadalits (the poorest among Dalits) are the two social categories that Nitish Kumar has nurtured openly over the past decade.
“Yadavs [an OBC caste] and Bhumihars [an upper caste] are the two castes the EBCs find difficult to gel with,” said the I-PAC member. “While Bhumihars are almost entirely with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Yadavs are the core voters of the grand alliance. Despite Nitish Kumar having wide acceptability among EBCs, if the alliance does not choose its candidates carefully these crucial voters may simply shift to the other side.”
