The Bihar government made its statistical information on the caste-based headcount conducted in the state this year public. This information could have a big impact on Bihar's electoral politics in the future.
The data reveals that of the state's 130.7 million total population, the politically sensitive 113-caste group known as the extremely backward classes (EBCs) make up the largest portion (36%), followed by the other backward classes at 27%, accounting for a total of 63% of the backward classes. Muslims constitute 17.7% of the state’s population, comprising 12.9% from backward class and 4.8% ‘upper caste’ Muslims.
CM Nitish Kumar and his deputy, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, decided to term it a “caste-based headcount” - and not a “caste census” - to escape a legal tangle as union junior home minister Nityanand Rai had informed Lok Sabha in July 2021 that it would not be legally tenable to hold a “caste census” in the country since the law provided for only counts of SC and ST groups. The caste breakdown in the state reveals that the Hindu "upper caste" groups, which are the BJP's basis, make up only 10.6% of the population. These groups are the Brahmins (3.7%), Rajputs (3.4%), Bhumihars (2.9%), and Kayasthas (0.6%).
BJP has pinned its hopes on the assumed caste support of its alliance partners - like the convergence of Dusadhs/Paswans, who account for 5.3% of the population, for the NDA through the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party led by Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras and Chirag Paswan of the other faction; 4.2% of the Kushwaha/Koeri caste through Upendra Kushwaha and state BJP chief Samrat Choudhary, and 3% Musahars through the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) of former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi.