Shahabad district or Arrah district, headquartered at Arrah was a Bhojpuri speaking district in western Bihar, India, making the western border of Bihar with Uttar Pradesh. In 1972, the district was split into two districts: Bhojpur and Rohtas. Kaimur District was carved out from Rohtas in 1991 and Buxar District from Bhojpur in 1992.
Bali Ram Bhagat was an Indian politician and member of the Indian National Congress (INC). He has served as Member of Parliament (MP) in Lok Sabha representing Patna-cum-Shahabad from 1952 to 1957 and Shahabad from 1957 to 1977. Bhagat has also served as the 6th Speaker of the Lok Sabha and 13th Foreign Minister of India.
Bhojpur district is one of the thirty-eight districts of the Indian state of Bihar. Arrah city is the administrative headquarters of this district. Bhojpur district came into existence in 1972. Earlier it was the part of Shahabad district. This district is named "Bhojpur" after great Parmara King Bhoja as most early settlers were Rajput rulers of Parmara dynasty then called as Ujjainiya.
Kushwaha is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain that has traditionally been involved in agriculture, including beekeeping. The term has been used to represent different sub-castes of the Kachhis, Kachhvahas, Koeris and Muraos. Under the Indian governments system of positive discrimination, the Kushwahas are classified as a "Backward" or Other backward class. The Kushwaha had worshipped Shiva and Shakta, but beginning in the 20th century, they claim descent from the Suryavansh (Solar) dynasty via Kusha, one of the twin sons of Rama and Sita. At present, it is a broad community formed by coming together of several caste groups with similar occupational backgrounds and socio-economic status, who, over the time, started inter-marrying among themselves and created all India caste network for caste solidarity. The communities which merged into this caste cluster includes Kachhi, Kachhwaha, Kushwaha, Mali, Marrar, Saini, Sonkar, Murai, Shakya, Maurya, Koeri and Panara.
Patna Lok Sabha constituency was a parliamentary constituency which existed from 1957 to 2008 in Bihar, India. Later in 2008 it was split into two seats: Pataliputra and Patna Sahib.
R.L.P. Verma was a former member of Lok Sabha and a leader of Bhartiya Janata Party. He was elected to Lok Sabha from Kodarma in Jharkhand state in India for six terms. Verma represented Jamua Assembly constituency once, from where he was elected in legislative assembly elections in 1972, on the ticket of Bhartiya Jana Sangh. However, on the call of Jai Prakash Narayan for Total Revolution, he resigned from his legislative assembly membership and became a part of the "Sampurna Kranti movement". He was made a candidate of Janata Party for Lok Sabha elections in 1977, and was subsequently elected to lower house of Indian Parliament. Verma has represented Kodarma Lok Sabha constituency for five terms, making him the longest serving Member of Parliament (MP) from this constituency. He was one of the two Member of Parliament of BJP during transformation of Jana Sangh into Bhartiya Janata Party. Verma played instrumental role in strengthening Bhartiya Jana Sangh and later Bhartiya Janata Party in Bihar-Jharkhand region.
Karakat Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 40 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Bihar state in eastern India. This constituency came into existence in 2008 as a part of the implementation of delimitation of parliamentary constituencies based on the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission of India constituted in 2002.
Chapra is an assembly constituency in Saran district in the Indian state of Bihar. In 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Chapra was one of the 36 seats to have VVPAT enabled electronic voting machines.
The Koeri, also referred to as Kushwaha and more recently self-described as Maurya in several parts of northern India are an Indian non-elite caste, found largely in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, whose traditional occupation was agriculture. According to Arvind Narayan Das they were horticulturist rather than agriculturists. They are also recorded as performing the work of Mahajan in credit market of rural parts of Bihar and Bengal in 1880s. Koeris have attempted Sanskritisation— as part of social resurgence. During the British rule in India, Koeris were described as "agriculturalists" along with Kurmis and other cultivating castes. They are described as a dominant caste in various opinions.
Rameshwar Prasad is an Indian politician, belonging to the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation. He is a Central Committee member of CPI (ML) Liberation and the president of All India Agricultural Labourers Association (AIALA).
Chandradeo Prasad Verma was a politician who was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament of India from the Arrah, Bihar in 1977, 1980 and 1996. He was the Union Minister of State for Rural Areas and Employment. He was earlier Member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly and a Cabinet minister in Bihar.
Raj Kumar Singh is a former Indian bureaucrat and a current Union Cabinet Minister in the Government of India. He is a Member of the Indian Parliament for Arrah, Bihar, since May 2014. Singh is a 1975 batch Bihar cadre Indian Administrative Service officer and former Home Secretary of India.
Upendra Kumar Singh, commonly known as Upendra Kushwaha is an Indian politician, and a former Member of Bihar Legislative Council and Bihar Legislative Assembly. He has also served as Minister of State for Human Resources and Development in the Government of India. Kushwaha is a former Member of Parliament (MP) from the Karakat constituency in Rohtas district, Bihar, and a former member of the Rajya Sabha. He was the leader of Rashtriya Samata Party (RSP), his own party, which merged into Janata Dal (United) (JDU) in 2009. Later, he formed Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), which also merged with JD(U) in 2021. On 20 February 2023, Kushwaha resigned from all positions in Janata Dal (United) and formed his own party called Rashtriya Lok Morcha due to his political problems with JD(U) and Nitish Kumar.
Sumitra Devi was an Indian National Congress politician from Bihar. She was first elected to Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1952 from Jagdishpur. In 1963, she became the first woman cabinet minister of Bihar. She was also the first Bihari woman to become a cabinet minister in Government of India in 1977. Devi was born in Munger district on September 25, 1922, and died on February 3, 2001. She has served 4 times as MLA of Arrah from 1962 to 1969 and 1972 to 1980. Apart from this, she was also elected once from Piro Assembly constituency in 1957. In 1977, she participated in Indian General elections from Balia Lok Sabha constituency as an independent candidate, but she was defeated.
Shakuni Choudhary is an Indian politician who is a founding member of Samata Party. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament of India from Khagaria Lok Sabha constituency as member of the Samata Party. Choudhary has been known for political defection and has remained Deputy Speaker in the Bihar Legislative Assembly.
Samrat Choudhary alias Rakesh Kumar is an Indian politician, who is currently serving as Deputy Chief minister of Bihar under Nitish Kumar. He is a Member of Bihar Legislative Council from the Bharatiya Janata Party. He has been the party president of BJP Bihar State unit from March 2023. He has also remained Member of Legislative Assembly and a minister in Government of Bihar in Rashtriya Janata Dal government.Chaudhary has been a former Vice President of BJP for the state of Bihar and currently elected for the second term as MLC in 2020 after his first term ended in 2019. In 2014, Samrat planned a split in Rashtriya Janata Dal by defecting thirteen MLAs as splinter group of the party. He later joined BJP. In 2022, he was selected as the Leader of Opposition in Bihar Legislative Council.
The Luv-Kush equation is a political term used in the context of the politics of Bihar, to denote the alliance of the agricultural Kurmi and the Koeri caste, which was assumed to be approximately 15% of the state's population The alliance of these two caste groups has remained the support base of Nitish Kumar, as against the MY equation of Lalu Prasad Yadav, which constitutes Muslims and the Yadavs. Caste consciousness and the quest for political representation largely drive the politics of Bihar. The political alliance of the Koeri and the Kurmi castes, termed the "Luv-Kush equation" was formed when a massive Kurmi Chetna Rally was organised by members of the Kurmi community in 1994 against the alleged casteist politics of Lalu Yadav, who was blamed by contemporary community leaders for promoting Yadavs in politics and administration.
Kushwaha is a surname used by people of Koeri caste in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The Kushwahas are also known as Maurya, Shakya, Saini in various parts of north India. As per one opinion, the Kushwaha surname is also common among members of Kachhi caste, who later merged with the Koeris to become a single homogeneous community. They are a dominant OBC community in the state of Bihar.
Haridwar Prasad Singh was an Indian politician based in Bihar, who was elected to Indian Parliament from Arrah Lok Sabha constituency. He was elected to 12th Lok Sabha and he defeated Chandradeo Prasad Verma of Rashtriya Janata Dal to become a parliamentarian. Singh was a member of Samata Party while he was elected to Lok Sahha.
Shahabad Lok Sabha constituency was one of the Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Bihar, India. It was a part of Shahabad district (Bhojpur) and Patna district and was in existence during 2nd to 5th Lok Sabha. In 1977, Shahabad Lok Sabha was renamed as Arrah Lok Sabha constituency.
