NEW DELHI: Seeking to expand its electoral presence beyond Bihar, the Janata Dal (United) has begun preparations for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, with Bihar health minister Nishant Kumar, son of party president and former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, spearheading its campaign.
The party is preparing to stake a claim to a sizeable number of Assembly seats in Purvanchal, the eastern UP region bordering Bihar, where it hopes to mobilise Kurmi and Kushwaha voters belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBC).
Signalling a generational shift in the party, Nishant addressed a major workers’ conclave in Varanasi on November 1, calling for organisational expansion ahead of the polls.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, JD(U) national spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said the party was in the process of identifying constituencies in Purvanchal.
“The party has a substantial mass base and organisational set up in the region and the process of the selection of the candidate will start once we finalise the seats,” Prasad said.
Despite its electoral ambitions, the JD(U) has adopted a conciliatory approach towards its senior NDA ally, the BJP.
During his Varanasi visit, Nishant said the party would strive to contest the elections as an NDA constituent under the leadership of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath. However, formal seat-sharing talks between the allies are yet to begin.
The UP elections will also provide an opportunity for Nishant to establish himself as an organisational leader outside Bihar while attempting to revive the JD(U)’s electoral fortunes in the neighbouring state.
The party has struggled in UP for nearly two decades. In 2022, it contested 26 seats independently after seat-sharing negotiations with the BJP failed but drew a blank. It had stayed away from the 2017 polls and failed to win any of the 219 seats it contested in 2012.
The JD(U) last tasted electoral success in UP in 2007, winning one of the 16 seats it contested. In 2002, it had won two seats.
Political observers say the JD(U)’s ambitions could complicate the BJP’s seat-sharing calculations in Purvanchal, where the saffron party already has regional OBC allies, including Anupriya Patel’s Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP).
The BJP relies on these allies to consolidate OBC support and counter the Samajwadi Party’s Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak (PDA) outreach.
The JD(U)’s electoral strategy will depend largely on whether the BJP accommodates its demand for seats or the party is forced to contest independently again.
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