NEW DELHI: As Bihar gears up for the assembly elections, the ruling National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Mahagathbandhan have cornered each other over issues such as development, migration, and unemployment. However, it all appears to have boiled down to the perennial theme of caste-based politics, with every party fine-tuning its manifesto and candidate list to gauge how various caste communities will vote and how best to retain their traditional voter bases. Swearing by Jan Nayak Karpoori Thakur’s legacy of social justice, a caste survey was conducted in Bihar in 2023 to determine the exact population of each caste, aiming to bolster demands for expanded quotas. The survey found that the EBCs constitute the largest portion at 36 per cent, along with the other backward cla

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