Janata Dal (United)

Janata Dal (United) abbreviated as JD(U) is a centre-left Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India.[2] JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar and Arunachal Pradesh and is a part of government in Bihar. JD(U) heads the government in Bihar and is the second largest party in Arunanchal Pradesh.[3][4][5] JD(U) won 16 seats in the 2019 Indian general election, making it the seventh largest party in the Lok Sabha. The party operates on the ideologies of socialism, secularism and integral humanism.[2]

Janata Dal (United)
AbbreviationJD(U)
PresidentNitish Kumar
General SecretaryK. C. Tyagi
Lok Sabha leaderLalan Singh
Rajya Sabha leaderRamchandra Prasad Singh
Founder
Founded30 October 2003 (2003-10-30)
Merger of
Split fromJanata Dal
Headquarters7, Jantar Mantar Road, New Delhi, India-110001
NewspaperJD(U) Sandesh
IdeologySocialism[1]
Secularism[1]
Integral humanism[2]
Political positionCentre-left[2]
ECI Status
  • Bihar (State Party)
  • Arunchal Pradesh (State Party)
Alliance
Seats in Lok Sabha
15 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha
5 / 245
Seats in 
Indian states
69 / 243
(Bihar Legislative Assembly)
23 / 75
(Bihar Legislative Council)
7 / 60
(Arunachal Pradesh)
Number of states and union territories in government
2 / 31
Election symbol
Website
www.janatadalunited.online

The Janata Dal (United) was formed with the merger of the Sharad Yadav faction of the Janata Dal, the Lokshakti Party and the Samta Party on 30 October 2003. Janata Dal (United)'s party mentor and patron is the veteran socialist leader George Fernandes.[6] JD(U) has been a part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) since its formation except from June 2013 to August 2017.[7][8]

History

Formation

The Janata Dal (United)'s origins go back to before the 1999 General Election. A faction led by then Chief Minister of Karnataka J. H. Patel had lent support to the National Democratic Alliance, leading to the split in the Janata Dal leading to the formation of Janata Dal (Secular) under H. D. Deve Gowda, who wanted to remain equidistant from both national parties; and Janata Dal under Sharad Yadav was called Janata Dal (United).[9]

The Janata Dal (United) was formed with the merger of the Sharad Yadav faction of the Janata Dal, the Lok Shakti and the Samata Party.[10] On 30 October 2003, the Samata Party led by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar merged with the Janata Dal. The merged entity was called Janata Dal (United) with the arrow symbol of Janata Dal (United) and the green and white flag of the Samata Party.[6] The uniting force is believed to be common opposition to Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar especially after the Rashtriya Janata Dal welcomed Samata Party rebels like Raghunath Jha into the party.

In NDA

JD(U) joined NDA and along with its alliance partner, the BJP defeated the RJD-led UPA government in Bihar in November 2005. New government was headed by JD(U) leader, Nitish Kumar and NDA continued to govern state. The alliance contested 2009 Indian general election and won 32 seats. BJP won 12 while JD(U) won 20.[11] JD(U) won 115 and BJP won 91 seats in 2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election. Thus together holding 206 seats in 243 member Bihar Legislative Assembly.

Out of NDA

JD(U) broke its 17 years old alliance with the BJP in Bihar in protest against the elevation of Narendra Modi as ahead of the election campaign committee of BJP for 2014 Indian general election. JD(U) President Sharad Yadav and then Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced their end of coalition at a press conference on 16 June 2013, exactly a week after Narendra Modi was made the BJP's campaign committee chairman, who was later made the prime ministerial candidate of NDA. Just after this split, Sharad Yadav relinquished his position as the NDA convenor.

The JD(U) contested the election in Bihar in an alliance with the Communist Party of India but they won only two seats out of total forty seats of Bihar while the BJP-LJP alliance won 31 seats.[11][12][13] Following poor performance in election, Nitish Kumar resigned as Chief Minister of Bihar and Jitan Ram Manjhi sworn in as a new Chief Minister. When the trust vote was demanded by the BJP to prove majority in Bihar Legislative Assembly, the RJD supported the JD(U) in the assembly on 23 May 2014 to pass the majority mark.[14]

The Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance)

On 29 December 2014, Kerala-based Socialist Janata (Democratic) merged with the JD(U) with its leader M.P. Veerendra Kumar accepting the party flag from JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar. This was an important milestone in bringing a pan-Indian appeal to the JD(U) which is largely limited to the state of Bihar. [15]

On 14 April 2015, the JD(U), Janata Dal (Secular), Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Indian National Lok Dal, Samajwadi Party, and Samajwadi Janata Party announced that they would merge into a new national Janata Parivar alliance in order to oppose the BJP, thus leaving the UPA but this could not happen for some reasons and then the Samajwadi party was offered 3 seats out of 243 assembly seats in Bihar elections which caused it to leave the alliance and fight separately.[16] On 9 May, MLA Jitan Ram Manjhi was expelled from the JD(U) and founded the Hindustani Awam Morcha along with 17 other dissent JD(U) MLAs.[17]

In the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election JD(U) contested the election in an alliance with the RJD and Congress. It won 71 seats out of the 101 seats it contested and the alliance won 178 seats out the 243 seats in the assembly. Subsequently, Nitish Kumar again became the Chief Minister of Bihar.

In the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha held in March 2016, the ruling UDF of Kerala state gave one seat to JD(U) Kerala State Unit President M.P. Veerendra Kumar. In spite of having just 2 MLAs in the Legislative Assembly, the Congress gave a berth to its ally.[18]

Alliance with NDA

On 26 July 2017 5 pm, Nitish Kumar tendered his resignation as Chief Minister of Bihar, ending 20-month-old Mahgathbandhan (grand alliance) rule. The next day on 27 July 2017 10 am he again took oath as Chief Minister of Bihar with the support of BJP. Same day evening, Kerala JD(U) chief M.P. Veerendra Kumar announced the split of Kerala unit of the JD(U) from the party, due to Nitish Kumar led Bihar unit joined hands with the BJP.[19] On 28 July 2017, new NDA government won trust vote in Bihar assembly by 131 votes in favour and 108 against, four legislators did not vote.[20]

Electoral Performance

Lok Sabha Elections
Lok Sabha Term Indian
General Election		 Seats
contested		 Seats
won		 Votes Polled % of
votes		 % of votes in
seats contested		 State (seats) Ref.
13th Lok Sabha 1999 60 21 112,82,084 3.10 28.01 Bihar (18)
Karnataka (3)
14th Lok Sabha 2004 73 8 91,44,963 2.53 Bihar (6) Lakshadweep(1) Uttar Pradesh(1)
15th Lok Sabha 2009 27 20 59,36,786 Bihar (20)
16th Lok Sabha 2014 93 2 59,92,281 1.08 Bihar (2)
17th Lok Sabha 2019 24 16 Bihar(16)

Bihar Vidhan Sabha
Vidhan Sabha Term General Election Seats
contested		 Seats
won		 Votes Polled % of
votes		 % of votes in
seats contested		 Ref.
2015 101 71 64,16,414 16.8 40.65

Arunachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha
Vidhan Sabha term General Election Seats
contested		 Seats
won		 Votes Polled % of
votes		 % of votes in
seats contested		 Ref.
7th 2019 14 7 61,324 9.89

Prominent members

List of Chief Ministers

Chief Ministers of Bihar
No Name Constituency Term of office Tenure length Assembly
1 Nitish Kumar MLC 24 November 2005 26 November 2010 5 years, 2 days 14th
Nitish Kumar MLC 26 November 2010 20 May 2014 3 years, 175 days 15th
2 Jitan Ram Manjhi Makhdumpur 20 May 2014 22 February 2015 278 days 15th
(1) Nitish Kumar MLC 22 February 2015 20 November 2015 271 days 15th
Nitish Kumar MLC 20 November 2015 26 July 2017 1 year, 248 days 16th
Nitish Kumar MLC 26 July 2017 Incumbent 3 years, 22 days 16th
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References
  1. "Lok Sabha Elections 2014: Know your party symbols!". Daily News and Analysis. 10 April 2014.
  2. About Janta Dal United (JDU). "Janta Dal United (JD(U)) – Party History, Symbol, Founders, Election Results and News". Elections.in. Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  3. Dev Raj (10 June 2019). "Nitish nod for Prashant Kishor and blessings". The Telegraph. Patna. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  4. "After Bihar, JD(U) Becomes a Recognised State Party in Arunachal Pradesh". News 18. Patna. 8 June 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  5. Anand Patel (29 May 2019). "JDU eyes assembly polls to get national party status". India Today. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  6. Parsai, Gargi (31 October 2003). "Fernandes to head Janata Dal (United)". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
  7. "JD(U) ends 17-year-old alliance with BJP, quits NDA". The Times of India. 13 June 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  8. "Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) passes resolution to join NDA". The Times of India. 19 August 2017. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  9. Samata Party breaks away from JD (U)
  10. Menon, Paravathi (23 April 2004). "Janata Parivar's home base". Frontline Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 January 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
  11. Vaibhav, Aditya (17 May 2014). "Election results 2014: JD(U), RJD decimated in Bihar". The Times of India. TNN. Archived from the original on 31 May 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  12. "General Election to Loksabha Trend and Result 2014". Election Commission of India. 16 May 2014. Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  13. "JD(U) severs ties with BJP on Modi issue". The Hindu. 16 June 2013. Archived from the original on 31 May 2014.
  14. "Lalu Yadav's Party to Support Nitish Kumar's JD (U) In Bihar Floor Test". NDTV. 22 May 2015. Archived from the original on 31 May 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  15. "Nitish Kumar hails SJD's merger with JD-U in Kerala". indiatoday.in. 29 December 2014. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016.
  16. "'Janata Parivar' formalised, Mulayam Singh named chief of new party". Zee News. 15 April 2015. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017.
  17. "Manjhi launches HAM as new political party". The Times of India. TNN. 9 May 2015. Archived from the original on 12 May 2015.
  18. "Congress, JD(U) to share Rajya Sabha seats; Antony may be renominated". The Hindu. 26 February 2016. Archived from the original on 11 May 2018.
  19. Staff, Scroll (27 July 2017). "'Will fight fascist forces': Kerala JD(U) splits from party after Nitish Kumar allies with the BJP". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  20. "Bihar Assembly trust vote LIVE updates: CM Nitish Kumar wins floor test with 131 votes". The Indian Express. 28 July 2017. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  21. "Nitish Kumar is new JD(U) chief". The Hindu. 10 April 2016.
  22. "The Secretary General". 23 September 2010. Archived from the original on 23 September 2010.
  23. "Rajya Sabha: Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committees". 164.100.47.5. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  24. "Nitish confidante Vijay Chaudhary is new Bihar Speaker". Archived from the original on 6 April 2017.
  25. "Meet the backroom boys in the battle for Bihar". Archived from the original on 6 April 2017.
  26. "Unopposed, Bashishtha Narayan Singh Re-Elected JD(U) Bihar Unit President". Archived from the original on 6 April 2017.
  27. "Nitish Kumar's Bihar team: 7 Masters, 9 graduates and 12 who went to school". 22 November 2015. Archived from the original on 5 December 2015.
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