E-Paper
New HT caste database of Bihar MLAs to read election pulse
HT is launching a caste database of Bihar's legislators, covering 3,629 MLAs from 1962-2020, to enhance political analysis ahead of November polls.
NEW DELHI As Bihar prepares to go to the polls in November, HT is launching an in-house caste database of the state’s legislators, covering 3,629 MLAs elected over 15 assembly elections from 1962 to 2020.
While caste is critical to politics across the country, it is particularly important in Bihar. The database goes beyond broad social categories such as Scheduled Castes (SC), Other Backward Castes (OBC), or upper castes and provides details at the level of each sub-caste or jati. It is often the latter that has driven political churn in the state. What makes such an effort particularly rewarding in Bihar is the fact that the state government conducted a caste survey in 2023, providing a detailed break-up of the population at the level of jatis.
The database excludes MLAs who were elected from constituencies that became a part of Jharkhand when the state was bifurcated in 2000. This exercise was repeated for the period around the 1977 delimitation when constituency boundaries were changed. The Bihar Vidhan Sabha website carries a list of all members since 1962. The names of MLAs were collected from the assembly records and matched with the Election Commission of India’s statistical reports for every assembly election in the state since 1962.
Caste details are rarely part of official records. The preparation of this database has taken months of research of official databases and records, old newspaper records, previous academic work and a careful vetting in consultation with social scientists and former MLAs and MPs in the state. It required field work in the state, including visits to the Bihar Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan Parishad library and archives. For the final round of verification, more than 10 MPs and MLAs who had contested and won elections before 1990 were interviewed. Their inputs helped confirm caste details that were missing or unclear in earlier records.
Castes and sub-castes in the state are diverse and vary across regions, often with different local names or classifications. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, but given the complexity of Bihar’s caste structure, some errors or overlaps may still remain. HT’s data journalism team will use this database extensively to produce informed, data-based journalism looking at the intersection of society and politics in Bihar through the campaign and after the results.
