Janata Dal (United) ("People’s Party (United)”) abbreviated as JD(U) is an Indian political party with

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

presence mainly in

eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

and

north-eastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. JD(U) is recognised as a

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...

in the states of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...

and

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...

and is a part of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

in Bihar. JD(U) heads the government in Bihar and has remained the second largest party in

. JD(U) won 16 seats in the

2019 Indian general election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and voter ...

, making it the seventh largest party in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

. The Janata Dal (United) was formed with the merger of the

Sharad Yadav Sharad Yadav (born 1 July 1947) is a politician from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party. He has been elected to Lok Sabha seven times and to Rajya Sabha thrice from JD(U). He was the first national president of Janata Dal (United) since its forma ...

faction of the

Janata Dal Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 ...

, the

Lok Shakti Lok Shakti ( lit. People's Power) is a political party in India. Lok Shakti was one of several parties that were formed when the Janata Dal crumbled in the mid-1990s. LS was formed in February 1997 after Ramakrishna Hegde was expelled from Janata ...

Party and the

Samata Party The Samata Party (SAP) is a political party in India, initially formed in 1994 by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar, now led by Uday Mandal its National President. Samata Party once launched Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister of Bihar. It was ...

on 30 October 2003. But

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, di ...

refused the merger of the

, then Brahmanand Mandal became the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

, but he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and not physically well so Uday Mandal became President and he has taken charge of the Samata Party. Janata Dal (United)'s party mentor and patron is the veteran socialist leader

George Fernandes George Mathew Fernandes (3 June 1930 – 29 January 2019) was an Indian trade unionist, statesman, and journalist, who served as the 22nd Defence Minister of India from 1998 until 2004. He was a member of Lok Sabha for over 30 years, starting f ...

. JD(U) is currently a part of the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Janta Dak United

History

Formation

Posters of Janata Dal (United) at Bir Chand Patel Path

The Janata Dal (United)'s origins go back to before the 1999 General Election. A faction led by then

Chief Minister of Karnataka The chief minister of Karnataka, formerly known as the chief minister of Mysore, is the chief executive officer of the government of the Indian state of Karnataka. As per the Constitution of India, the governor of Karnataka is the state's ''de j ...

J. H. Patel Jayadevappa Halappa Patel (Kannada:ಜಯದೇವಪ್ಪ ಹಾಲಪ್ಪ ಪಟೇಲ್; 1 October 1930 – 12 December 2000) was the 9th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 31 May 1996 to 7 October 1999. Biography J.H. Patel was born on ...

had lent support to the

National Democratic Alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a Centre-right politics, centre-right to Right-wing politics, right-wing and Conservatism, conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was foun ...

, leading to the split in the

leading to the formation of

Janata Dal (Secular) The Janata Dal (Secular) is an Indian political party led by former prime minister of India, H. D. Deve Gowda. The party is recognized as a State Party in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh. It was formed in July 1999 by the ...

under

H. D. Deve Gowda Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda (; born 18 May 1933 in) is an Indian politician from the state of Karnataka. He served as the 11th prime minister of India from 1 June 1996 to 21 April 1997. He was previously the 14th Chief Minister of Karn ...

, who wanted to remain equidistant from both national parties; and Janata Dal under

was called Janata Dal (United). The Janata Dal (United) was formed with the merger of the Sharad Yadav faction of the Janata Dal, the

and the

. On 30 October 2003, the Samata Party led by

and

Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician, who is serving as Chief Minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previous held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. The leader of the Janata Dal (Unite ...

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. The uniting force is believed to be common opposition to

Rashtriya Janata Dal The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: ''National People's Party'') is an Indian political party, based in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Kerala. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party's support base has tradit ...

especially after the Rashtriya Janata Dal welcomed Samata Party rebels like

Raghunath Jha Raghunath Jha (9 August 1939 – 15 January 2018) was an Indian politician who was Union minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise and member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Bettiah constituency of Bihar ...

into the party.

In NDA

JD(U) joined

NDA NDA may stand for: Military * National Defence Academy (India), a military academy in India * National Defence Act, legislation for organizing and funding Canada's military * National Defense Academy of Japan, a military academy in Japan * Nig ...

and along with its alliance partner, the

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

defeated the

RJD The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: ''National People's Party'') is an Indian political party, based in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Kerala. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party's support base has tradit ...

-led UPA government in Bihar in November 2005. New government was headed by JD(U) leader,

and NDA continued to govern state. The alliance contested

2009 Indian general election 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

and won 32 seats. BJP won 12 while JD(U) won 20. 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 The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the Bihar Legislature where the first elections were held in 1952. The total strength of membership in the Assembly was 331, including one nominated m ...

Out of NDA

JD(U) broke its 17 years old alliance with the

in protest against the elevation of

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

as ahead of the election campaign committee of BJP for

2014 Indian general election General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...

. JD(U) President

and then Bihar Chief Minister

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 Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

but they won only two seats out of total forty seats of Bihar while the BJP- LJP alliance won 31 seats. Following poor performance in election,

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

, the RJD supported the JD(U) in the assembly on 23 May 2014 to pass the majority mark. On 09 August, 2022, JD(U) is out of NDA.

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

. This was an important milestone in bringing a pan-Indian appeal to the JD(U) which is largely limited to the state of

. On 14 April 2015, the JD(U),

, the

Indian National Lok Dal Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is a political party in India, in the state of Haryana. INLD was founded in October 1996 as Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya) by Choudhary Devi Lal, who served as Deputy Prime Minister of India in the V.P. Singh's Cabin ...

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as w ...

, and

Samajwadi Janata Party Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) (SJP(R)), also called as Janata Dal (Socialist) is an Indian political party founded by Chandra Shekhar, 8th Prime Minister of India in 1990–91, and led by him until his death on 8 July 2007. Chandra Shekhar ...

announced that they would merge into a new national Janata Parivar alliance in order to fight against the BJP in cooperation with one another, thus leaving the UPA. But for some reason this did not take place and the Samajwadi Party was subsequently offered 3 seats out of an assembly of 243 in the Bihar elections. Unhappy with this deal, it left the alliance and fought the elections separately. On 9 May, MLA Jitan Ram Manjhi was expelled from the JD(U) and he later founded the

Hindustani Awam Morcha Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (translation: ''Indian People's Front''; abbreviated as HAM-S) is an Indian political party having presence in Bihar. HAM(S) got new symbol wok in Bihar Assembly Election 2020. Formation It was launched forma ...

along with 17 other dissent JD(U) MLAs. In the

2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election The Legislative Assembly election was held over five-phases in Bihar through October–November 2015 before the end of the tenure of the prior Legislative Assembly of Bihar on 29 November 2015. In April 2015, the Janata Parivar group (a group ...

JD(U) contested the election in an

alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

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 The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

held in March 2016, the ruling UDF of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

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

gave a berth to its ally. On 09 August, 2022, Nitish Kumar announced that the JD(U)'s alliance with the

in the

was over. He further made a claim that the new government in Bihar, a coalition of nine parties including the

and the

INC Inc. or inc may refer to: * Incorporation (business), as a suffix indicating a corporation * ''Inc.'' (magazine), an American business magazine * Inc. No World, a Los Angeles-based band * Indian National Congress, a political party in India * I ...

would be a "Mahagathgandhan 2.0."

Alliance with NDA

On 26 July 2017 5 pm,

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

. 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

unit joined hands with the BJP. 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.

2020 Assembly elections and aftermath

The JD(U), just like its parent

, had the core support of

Kushwaha Kushwaha (sometimes, Kushvaha) is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain which has traditionally been involved in agriculture (including beekeeping). The term has been used to represent different subcastes, being those of the Kachhi (caste), ...

and

Kurmi Kurmi is traditionally a non-elite tiller caste in the lower Gangetic plain of India, especially southern regions of Awadh, eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Bihar. The Kurmis came to be known for their exceptional work ethic, superior tilla ...

caste, which emanated from the great rally organised in 1993 at

Gandhi Maidan Gandhi Maidan is a historic ground in Patna, near the banks of the Ganges River, in Bihar, India. The Golghar falls to its west. During the period of 1824–1833, under British rule, it was used as a golf course and horse racing track and was c ...

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

. In 2020 Assembly elections, the party performed badly, and its seats in

reduced to 43 from 75 in 2015 elections. The breakaway of the faction led by

Upendra Kushwaha Upendra Singh Kushwaha (born 6 February 1960) is an Indian politician and Member of Legislative Council of Bihar assembly. He was the former Minister of State for Human Resources and Development in the Government of India. He is former MP fro ...

, who founded

Rashtriya Lok Samata Party Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (abbreviated as RLSP; translation: ''National People's Equity Party'') was a political party in India led by Upendra Kushwaha. It was launched on 3 March 2013 and was based in the state of Bihar. The party came into ex ...

, was recognised as one of the principal reason behind reduction in support base of the party in many constituencies. In a bid to retain its support amongst its core vote base, the party made several organisational changes, like appointing Ramchandra Prasad Singh as national president of the party and

Umesh Kushwaha Umesh Singh Kushwaha is a Former Member of Legislative Assembly in Bihar from Mahnar constituency. He is a member of Janata Dal (United). Kushwaha is the son of Vasudev Singh and hails from Kajri Bujurg village in the Vaishali district of Bihar. ...

as the state president. Meanwhile, it also tried to give effect to the merger of the Upendra Kushwaha led RLSP with itself. The RLSP was formed as a result of a split in JD(U) in 2013. Immediately after the merger, Upendra Kushwaha was made president of parliamentary board of the party.

Electoral Performance

Lok Sabha Elections

Bihar Vidhan Sabha

Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha

Arunachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha

Manipur Vidhan Sabha

Prominent members

, Chief Minister of Bihar. *

, president of parliamentary board of JDU. *

, Bihar state President of Janata Dal (United). * K.C. Tyagi, Secretary General & National Spokesperson. * Abhay Kushwaha, Former President of Youth wing of Janata Dal (United). *

Vijay Kumar Chaudhary Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (born 8 January 1957) is an Indian politician. He has been a member of Bihar Legislative Assembly since 1982, and is currently serving as the Cabinet Minister for Finance, Commercial Taxes and Parliamentary Affairs ministr ...

, Speaker of

, Former Bihar

JD(U) Janata Dal (United) ("People’s Party (United)”) abbreviated as JD(U) is an Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar , Arunachal Pr ...

President, Former Leader of

Legislature Party, . *

Harivansh Narayan Singh Harivansh Narayan Singh (born 30 June 1956) is an Indian journalist and politician, who is the Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. He is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha representing Bihar. ...

–

Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha The Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha (IAST: ) presides over the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha in the absence of the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha (Vice President of India). The Deputy Chairperson is elected internally by the Rajya Sabha ...

(2018) *

Bashistha Narain Singh Bashistha Narain Singh, is a politician from Janata Dal (United). He is a Member of the Parliament of India representing Bihar in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. He had served as Bihar state President of Janata Dal (U ...

, Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha. * Ram Nath Thakur, JDU Party leader in Rajya Sabha. * Rajiv Ranjan Singh,

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

, Former Bihar

President. * Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Minister for Energy, Registration, Excise and Prohibition,

Government of Bihar The Government of Bihar, known locally as the State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Bihar and its 9 divisions which consist of 38 districts . It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Bihar, a jud ...

* Monazir Hassan, Former Cabinet Minister

, Former MP

Begusarai Begusarai is the industrial and financial capital of Bihar and the administrative headquarters of the Begusarai district, which is one of the thirty-eight districts of the Indian state of Bihar. The district lies on the northern bank of th ...

List of Chief Ministers

Chief Ministers of Bihar

National President

– (2004 to 2016) Founder President *

– 2016 to 2020 * Ramchandra Prasad Singh – 2020 to 2021 *

Lalan Singh Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh (born 24 January 1955) is an Indian politician and Member of Parliament representing Munger in the 17th Lok Sabha from Janata Dal (United). He is National party president of JDU (Janta Dal United). He was ...

– from 2021

References

External links

* {{Janata Parivar parties Political parties established in 1999 2003 establishments in India Janata Dal