Patna, Oct 15 : The Janata Dal (United) has not fielded any Muslim candidates in its first list of 57 nominees for the Bihar Assembly elections.

According to party sources, more lists are expected, and the JD(U) may still field Muslim candidates in upcoming phases.

However, the absence of Muslim names in the first list, announced on Wednesday, has already sparked political debate and criticism from opposition parties.

In the 2020 Assembly elections, the JD(U) fielded 11 Muslim candidates out of 115, but none managed to win.

Similarly, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the JD(U) had fielded Mujahid Alam from Kishanganj, who lost to the Congress candidate.

Jama Khan, who had earlier won on a Samajwadi Party ticket and later joined the JD(U), was inducted into Nitish Kumar's cabinet but did not find a place in this list.

Political observers are viewing the "exclusion" of Muslim candidates in light of certain recent remarks by NDA leaders.

After the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh said at a rally in Muzaffarpur that minority communities did not vote for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, yet he continued to work for them. Around the same time, Sitamarhi MP Devesh Chandra Thakur remarked that he would no longer work for Yadavs and Muslims as they did not support him.

These statements had triggered speculation about Nitish Kumar's strained equation with the Muslim electorate. His absence from a Waqf Board meeting had further fuelled the discussion.

However, in recent months, the Chief Minister has made efforts to rebuild trust, attending several events organised by the Muslim community ahead of the polls.

Despite these outreach attempts, the absence of Muslim candidates in the first list of JD(U) is being interpreted as a strategic realignment toward core NDA voter bases ahead of the high-stakes Assembly polls.

Bihar is scheduled to go to Assembly polls on November 6 and 11, with the counting of votes on November 14.

/IANS