Bihar Assembly Elections: Nitish Kumar’s Pre-Poll Announcements Target Key Voter Groups

Ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has made a significant announcement. He has approved the implementation of a domicile policy in teacher recruitment examinations, reserving more than 85% of seats for Bihar's native residents.

With the Bihar Assembly elections approaching, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is actively campaigning, making significant announcements to garner public support. Recently, he announced free electricity up to 125 units for all households. Now, in a pre-election move, he has addressed three key constituencies simultaneously.

On Tuesday, the Nitish government approved the implementation of a domicile policy for teacher recruitment under the Teacher Recruitment Examination (TRE).

This will reserve over 85% of the seats for Bihar natives. The domicile policy will be applied to TRE-4, which is expected to recruit 1.10 lakh teachers later this year.

40% Seats Reserved for Students from Bihar

The notification states that 40% of the teaching positions will be reserved for candidates who have passed their 10th or 12th standard examinations from a Bihar school or college. This means that even Bihar residents who completed their secondary education outside the state will not be eligible for this reservation.

Additionally, separate reserved seats have been announced for candidates from Bihar's Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). A quota of seats is also reserved for women from Bihar.

This announcement is seen as an attempt by CM Nitish to garner support from Bihar's youth. This follows a recent announcement aimed at women.

Women Also Benefit from New Policy

On July 8th, the NDA government announced a 35% reservation for women natives of Bihar in government jobs. While this reservation has been in place since 2016, previously, women from other states could also benefit. Now, only women from Bihar will be eligible.

This move by CM Nitish simultaneously targets two key demographics. These announcements could significantly impact RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav (तेजस्वी यादव), who has been actively campaigning on employment issues. He may need to strategise to counter Nitish Kumar's pre-election initiatives.