Muslims account for 17.7% of Bihar’s population, spiking to more than 40% in northern border districts, but as the Assembly election approaches, they are hard to spot among the candidate lists of political parties. So far, no political party has announced more than four Muslim candidates for the State’s 243 Assembly constituencies, apart from the newly floated Jan Suraaj Party, which has promised to field 40 Muslim candidates and has announced 21 so far.
This is despite the fact that the Muslim population is over 20% in 87 constituencies, making their votes a decisive factor in any candidate’s electoral fortunes. However, about 75% of the State’s Muslims live in northern Bihar. In recent years, the Muslim population in the Seemanchal or border districts of Katihar, Purnea, and Araria has gone up to 40%, while Muslims are the majority in Kishanganj district, outnumbering Hindus and accounting for over 68% of the population there.
Few seats for Muslims
Nevertheless, the ruling Janata Dal (United), contesting 101 seats, has so far given party tickets to just four Muslim candidates. The Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal is yet to release its final list of candidates, but has given tickets to only three Muslims so far: Osama Sahab, son of former MP Mohd. Shahabuddin, in the Raghunathpur constituency; Yusuf Salahuddin (Simri-Bakhtiyarpur); and Mohd. Israil Mansuri (Kanti).
Among national parties, the BJP has not fielded any Muslims in the 101 seats it is contesting, while the Congress, which has not yet officially announced how many seats it is contesting, has announced four Muslim candidates so far. Some Muslim leaders are questioning why Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s calls for proportional representation do not seem to apply here.
Among smaller parties, the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) is contesting 29 seats as part of the ruling NDA and is fielding a lone Muslim candidate, Mohd. Kalimuddin, in the Bahadurganj seat in northeastern Bihar. The other two NDA allies, the Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Morcha, are each contesting six seats and are not fielding any Muslims. The Jan Suraaj Party founded by former poll strategist Prashant Kishor has announced 116 candidates so far, of which 21 are Muslims.
Historic underrepresentation
Historically, Bihar Muslims have always suffered from chronic electoral underrepresentation. The number of Muslim MLAs in the State Assembly has never crossed 10%, except marginally in 1985. The State has only had one Muslim Chief Minister, Abdul Ghafoor, who helmed the State government for less than two years in the 1970s. Bihar has never had a Muslim in the Deputy Chief Minister post, though Ghulam Sarwar and Jabir Hussain held the positions of Assembly Speaker and Legislative Council Chairman, respectively. A few Muslim leaders such as Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Shakil Ahmad, Mohd. Taslimuddin, and Mohd. Zama Khan have been Cabinet Ministers.
In the 17 Assembly elections held between 1952 and 2020, the State has elected only 390 Muslim MLAs, accounting for just 7.8% of all MLAs. The high point came in 1985, when there were 34 Muslim MLAs in the 324-strong legislature of undivided Bihar. In the last Assembly election in 2020, only 19 Muslim MLAs were elected to the 243-seat Assembly.
Poor and underprivileged Pasmanda Muslims have fared even worse in terms of electoral representation. Despite the community accounting for 73% of the State’s 2.3 crore Muslims, just 18% of Muslim MLAs have been Pasmanda so far. In 2020, there were just five Pasmanda MLAs, four from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and one from the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
Shifting votebanks
Muslim candidates were not particularly successful even when fielded in the last Assembly election in 2020. The JD(U) had 11 Muslim candidates, all of whom lost the poll. The RJD had put 17 Muslim candidates in the fray, of which eight won. Of the 10 Muslim candidates fielded by the Congress, four had won. The AIMIM fielded 20 Muslim candidates, of which five won, though four of them switched loyalties to the RJD in 2022. Similarly, the Bahujan Samaj Party’s lone Muslim MLA later defected to the JD(U).
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav used to boast that his party’s key to electoral success was the combined ‘MY’ votebank accounting for 31% of the electorate (including the 17% Muslim population and the 14% belonging to the Yadav caste), who rewarded him 1990 to 2005. His winning formula was shattered, however, when JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar carved out a new votebank comprising the extremely backward classes (36%), juggling the caste calculus to win and hold power for most of the last two decades.
Proportional representation
“I still do hope that all secular parties like Congress and RJD would give us proper representation as per our population, and especially those Muslims who come from the Pasmanda community,” Pasmanda Muslim leader Ali Anwar told The Hindu. He pointed to Mr. Gandhi’s oft-repeated slogan of “Jiski jitni aabadi, usko utna hissedari (Whoever has a higher population gets a higher share)”, though that was largely used in reference to caste-based reservation for education and jobs, and not elections.
Muslim poll analyst Seraj Anwar is not too optimistic. “Muslims have become only vote banks for the political parties today. The parties know well which way the Muslim votes will go in which constituency, so they do not give much importance to candidates from the community. The Muslim candidates who win the poll either get smaller portfolios in the Cabinet or change their political loyalty as it suits them,” he said.
Published – October 17, 2025 10:41 pm IST
