Janata Dal (United) ("People's Party (United)"), abbreviated as JD(U), is an Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar and Manipur and is a part of government in both the states. JD(U) heads the government in Bihar and is part of the NDA government in Manipur. JD(U) won 12 seats in the 2024 Indian general election, making it the seventh largest party in the Lok Sabha. JD(U) states that they believe in promoting social justice and lifting up marginalized peoples.
There was a political crisis in Bihar state of India during February 2015 over the post of the Chief Minister of Bihar. Incumbent Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi did not vacate the post for former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who wanted to return, resulting in a split in the political party, JD(U). After days, the Governor asked Manjhi to prove majority in house by trust vote. Manjhi quit the post on day of vote and later Nitish Kumar took oath as chief minister again on 22 February 2015 ending the crisis.
Vijay Kumar Chaudhary is an Indian politician. He has been a member of Bihar Legislative Assembly since 1982, and is currently serving as the Cabinet Minister for Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs ministries in the Government of Bihar.
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. Kushwaha contested the Lok Sabha election of 2024 from Karakat constituency and finished at a distant third position. However, he was elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha in August 2024.
Uday Narayan Choudhary is an Indian politician. He served as the Speaker of the Bihar Legislative Assembly from 2005 to 2015. He was a prominent Dalit face in the JD(U) and represented the Imamganj Vidhan Sabha Constituency from 1990 to 1995 and then from 2000 to 2015, losing the 2015 election to former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. He crossed over to the RJD in 2019 to protest the breakup of the Mahagathbandhan and JD(U) joining hands with the BJP.
Santosh Kumar alias Santosh Kushwaha is an Indian politician and a former Member of Parliament representing the Purnia constituency in Bihar. He was first elected in the 2014 Indian general election, having run as the Janata Dal (United) candidate in the constituency. In 2010 he was also elected as Member of Legislative assembly of the Baisi of Purnea district as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. One month before 2014 lok sabha election he joined JD(U) as he was nominated as the party candidate for Lok Sabha election for Purnea constituency.
Jitan Ram Manjhi is an Indian politician, serving as the Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises since 2024. He is currently a Member of Parliament from Gaya constituency and was Bihar's 23rd Chief Minister from 20 May 2014 to 20 February 2015. He was the founding President of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM). Previously, he had served as minister for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes welfare in Nitish Kumar's cabinet. He has been a minister in several Bihar state governments, under multiple chief ministers like Chandrashekhar Singh, Bindeshwari Dubey, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Jagannath Mishra, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi.
Ram Chandra Prasad Singh is an Indian politician and former national president of Janata Dal (United). He is a former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from Bihar from 2010 to 2022. He was a Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer before joining politics. He was also principal secretary of Nitish Kumar. He became Minister of Steel in Second Modi ministry when cabinet overhaul happened.
The Legislative Assembly election was held over five phases in Bihar through October–November 2015 before the end of the tenure of the prior Legislative Assembly of Bihar on 29 November 2015.
Anant Kumar Singh, also known as Chhote Sarkar, is an Indian politician and a former MLA from the Mokama assembly constituency of Bihar. A former member of the Janata Dal (United) (JDU) party, he joined Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 2020. According to his election affidavit of 2020, he is facing 38 criminal charges including 7 murders, 11 attempt-to-murder and 4 cases of kidnapping.
Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (English: Indian People's Front), abbreviated HAM(S), is an Indian political party with a presence in Bihar. In Bihar, this party is also a natural Allies of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) similar to Janata Dal (United). It received a new election symbol, the wok, for the Bihar Assembly election in 2020.
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.
Mahagathbandhan, also known as Grand Alliance, is a coalition of political parties in the Eastern state of Bihar in India, formed ahead of the 2015 Vidhan Sabha elections in Bihar. The alliance consists of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Indian National Congress (INC) and Left parties including Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation-CPIML (Liberation) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM), with Tejashwi Yadav as the chairperson.
Brishin Patel is an Indian politician. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India from the Siwan in Bihar as a member of the Janata Dal. He was Minister of Education and Transport in Nitish Kumar cabinet. He was elected for record 6 times Member of Legislative Assembly from Vaishali, Bihar.
Ramai Ram was an Indian politician from Bihar. He was a prominent Dalit leader. He was associated with many political parties in his 50 year long political career; Janta Paty, Rashtriya Janta Dal, Janata Dal(United) and VIP. He was nine times MLA from Bochahan constituency of Muzaffarpur district in Bihar.
Abhay Kushwaha alias is an Indian politician from the Rashtriya Janata Dal, and a Member of Parliament representing Aurangabad in Bihar, India and former Member of Legislative Assembly for Tikari in the Gaya district of Bihar. An erstwhile member of Janata Dal (United); he won the 2015 Legislative Assembly election to the Tekari constituency by defeating Anil Kumar of Hindustani Awam Morcha, a political party led by former Bihar Chief Minister, Jitan Ram Manjhi. He defeated Anil Kumar by a huge margin of votes. While Abhay secured 86,975 votes, Anil managed to get 55,162 votes only. In 2024 Indian general election, he won the Aurangabad, Bihar Lok Sabha constituency by defeating BJP's four term member of parliament, Sushil Kumar Singh. He contested on the symbol of Rashtriya Janata Dal in this election.
Samrat Choudhary, also known by his 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 the Bihar Legislative Council from the Bharatiya Janata Party. He has been the party president of BJP Bihar State unit from March 2023 to 25 July 2024. 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, later joining the BJP. In 2022, he was selected as the Leader of Opposition in Bihar Legislative Council. In 2024, he was also made the convener of Group of Ministers on Goods and Service Tax rate rationalisation panel.
Jayant Raj Kushwaha is an Indian politician, Member of Legislative Assembly from the Amarpur of Bihar, and Minister of Rural Work in the Government of Bihar. In the 2020 election, he defeated Jitendra Singh of the Indian National Congress. While Raj secured 33.13% of votes polled, Singh, the runner up, finished with 31.23% of the votes. Raj is a member of Janata Dal (United), the ruling party of Bihar.
Manoj Singh Kushwaha is a former minister of Bihar. Kushwaha was the Minor Water Resources minister in the Jitan Ram Manjhi cabinet in 2014–15. He contested from the Kurhani Assembly constituency in February 2005, November 2005 and 2010 legislative assembly elections, and was victorious.
Bhim Singh Chandravanshi is an Indian educationist and politician who has been serving as a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from Bihar since 2024. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party since 2015, he holds the position of vice president of the BJP in the state of Bihar.
