BJP, JD (U) Mute Muslim Faces in Bihar Assembly Elections 2025

The NDA’s assessment suggests that the Muslim vote base will polarize in favor of the Mahagathbandhan led by the RJD.

By MANISH ANAND

Patna, October 15, 2025 — The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (United) have given a miss to Muslim candidates in their respective lists of candidates for the Bihar Assembly elections. No Muslim could bag a ticket for the Bihar Assembly elections from any of the 139 seats for which the BJP and the JD (U) have announced candidates.

The BJP in two lists has announced names of a total of 83 candidates. The JD (U) has announced names of 57 candidates in the first list released on Wednesday. The BJP and the JD (U) are contesting 101 seats each in the polls.

Shahnawaz Hussain, the BJP’s prominent Muslim face in Bihar, failed to bag party’s nomination from the Bhagalpur seat. The JD (U) also surprisingly chose not to give any space to Muslim faces of the party in the elections in the first list.

The BJP and the JD (U) have almost repeated most of the sitting MLAs, barring a few exceptions. Unlike the BJP which is eying a saffron somersault in the Bihar Assembly elections, incumbent Chief Minister of the state Nitish Kumar has maintained a secular image for himself. Kumar in earlier elections used to remind the Muslim constituency of works done by his government for the minority community.

The JD (U) had spotlighted works such as raising boundary walls for the Muslim graveyards and Madrassa educations. But the JD (U) by giving a miss to the Muslim faces in the first list of candidates appears to be giving a message that the party is aligning with the BJP on campaign theme in the state.

The BJP top brass such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah in their recent campaigns in the state have pitched illegal immigration in the state as a key poll theme. They have attacked the Opposition’s campaign of “vote chori” as a defence of infiltrators in the state.

But the JD (U) has so far stayed away from raising the infiltrator campaign theme in Bihar elections. The Bihar Chief Minister stays to the script of welfarism and governance achievements as themes of his party in the Bihar elections.

Within the NDA, there appears to be an assessment that Muslim vote base will polarise in favour of the Mahagathbandhan which is led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The BJP will seek a counter polarisation to raise the support base, said the party insiders.

Bihar roughly has a total of 18 percent Muslim vote base, spread evenly across the state. But the Muslim vote base is in sizable strength in the Seemanchal region of the state.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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