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.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal is an Indian political party,based in the states of Bihar,Jharkhand and Kerala. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Baidyanath Prasad Mahto was an Indian Politician and a Member of Indian Parliament to the 15th and 17th Lok Sabha. He won the 2009 and 2019 Indian general election from Valmiki Nagar constituency being a Janata Dal (United) candidate. He was earlier elected three times to the Bihar Legislative Assembly from Nautan. He was also Minister of Rural Development Department From 2005 to 2008 in Bihar Government.
Mahabali Singh Kushwaha(born 20 April 1955) is an Indian politician belonging to Bhabua,Kaimur district,Bihar. He was a member of the Indian Parliament,representing Karakat.
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.
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.
Kushwaha Ram Kumar Sharma is an Indian politician and a member of parliament from Sitamarhi,Bihar. He won the 2014 Indian general election being a Rashtriya Lok Samta Party candidate.
Renu Kushawaha,an Indian politician,is a leader of Lok Janshakti Party and a former state minister of Bihar. She hails from Khagaria. She has been associated with several political parties in past,right from Samata Party and Janata Dal (United) to Bharatiya Janata Party. In 2015,she contested from Samastipur Assembly seat on a BJP ticket where she lost to RJD candidate.
The criminal Ashok Mahto gang,which was active in the Indian state Bihar,was led by Ashok Mahto and included Pintu Mahto. Ashok Mahto and his gang were responsible for the 2005 killing of Rajo Singh,a sitting Member of Parliament. Ashok Mahto was imprisoned but escaped from Nawada jail in 2002. Pintu Mahto killed three police officers during the prison breakout. The gang's leaders are said to belong to either the Kurmi or Koeri caste,and were supported by the backward castes in the Nawada and Sheikhpura regions. The Mahto gang was waging a war of retribution against the exploitative upper-caste Bhumihars. Mahto and his gang were responsible for the killings of a large number of Forward Caste people in the late 1990s.
Sunil Kumar Pintu is an Indian politician. He was elected to the Lok Sabha,lower house of the Parliament of India from Sitamarhi,Bihar in the 2019 Indian general election as member of the Janata Dal (United). Pintu is also the president of the Shri Bhagwati Sita Tirtha Kshetra Samiti. Before 2019,he was a member of Bhartiya Janata Party;he had been a Member of Bihar Legislative Assembly from Sitamarhi Assembly constituency for four terms since 2003.
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.
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.
Niranjan Kumar Mehta is an Indian politician from Bihar and a Member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. Mehta won from Bihariganj Assembly constituency on the Janata Dal (United) ticket in the 2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election.
Shri Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha is a politician from Bihar,who has also served as a minister in the Government of Bihar. He is a son-in-law of Jagdish Mahto—the founder of Naxalism in Ekwari village of the Bhojpur region of Bihar. He has assumed several important posts in various regional political parties of Bihar,which include Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist),Rashtriya Janata Dal,Janata Dal (United),Lok Janshakti Party,Jan Adhikar Party Loktantrik and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party. Kushwaha once headed JD(U)'s youth wing and has also been Minister for rural development in Bihar. In July 2024,he was elected to the Bihar Legislative Council. He was nominated by the Janata Dal (United) as its candidate to fill the vacancy of the post caused by end of the tenure of another leader of the party.
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.
Rajeev Kumar Singh is a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) representing Tarapur constituency in the Bihar Legislative Assembly in India. He is a member of Janata Dal (United). He has been elected as the MLA on 2 November 2021. Singh got the ticket from Janata Dal (United) amidst the confusion over allocation of Tarapur constituency to Rohit Chaudhary,the younger brother of leader of opposition in Bihar Legislative Council,Samrat Chaudhary. The Tarapur constituency was the stronghold of Shakuni Choudhury,who had influence over Kushwaha voters,who are dominant in this assembly constituency. However,Rajiv Kumar Singh,himself a Kushwaha,was able to defeat his nearest rival in the bypolls of 2021.
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.
The 2024 Indian general election was held in Bihar in all 7 phases from 19 April to 1 June to elect 40 members of the 18th Lok Sabha,with the results declared on 4 June.
The Rashtriya Lok Morcha,originally established as Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal is an Indian political party formally announced by Upendra Kushwaha on 20 February 2023,in Bihar after resignation from Janata Dal (United). The party's ideology is based on the ideals of Karpoori Thakur. The foundation of the party was preceded by a two day conference organised by Upendra Kushwaha in Patna,in which he invoked the participation of all the members of Mahatama Phule Samata Parishad,a socio-political organisation and his trusted aides in Janata Dal (United). In the backdrop of this conference the foundation of the party was announced.
Vijaylakshmi Devi also known as Vijay Lakshmi Kushwaha is an Indian politician and a member of Indian Parliament,Lok Sabha from Siwan Lok Sabha constituency. She was elected to the Lok Sabha on the symbol of Janata Dal (United) in 2024 Indian general election. She is the wife of former JDU legislator,Ramesh Singh Kushwaha,who represented Ziradei Assembly constituency falling within Siwan Lok Sabha constituency.
