Ajay Nishad

Ajay Nishad (born 2 October 1966) is an Indian politician from Bihar associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), having served as Member of Parliament for the Muzaffarpur constituency during the 16th Lok Sabha (2014–2019) and the 17th Lok Sabha (2019–2024).^[1] Born in Hathsarganj, Vaishali district, to Late Capt. Jainarain Prasad Nishad, he entered politics representing the interests of the Nishad community in Bihar's electoral landscape.^[1] Elected initially on a BJP ticket in 2014 and re-elected in 2019, Nishad's parliamentary tenure focused on regional development issues in Muzaffarpur.^[2] In March 2024, after being denied a BJP nomination for the Lok Sabha elections, he resigned from the party and joined the Indian National Congress, contesting from Muzaffarpur but securing third place behind the BJP and Rashtriya Janata Dal candidates.^[3] Demonstrating the fluidity of political alliances in Bihar, Nishad rejoined the BJP in October 2025 alongside his wife Rama Nishad, ahead of the state assembly polls, a move described as energizing the party's grassroots amid ongoing party-hopping trends.^[4][5]

Personal background

Early life, education, and family

Ajay Nishad was born on 2 October 1966 in Hathsarganj, Hajipur, Vaishali district, Bihar.^[6][7] He was born into a politically influential family, as the son of Late Captain Jai Narain Prasad Nishad, a four-term Member of Parliament from Muzaffarpur who represented the interests of the Nishad community, and Late Smt. Prem Nishad.^[1][8] Public records indicate that Nishad possesses a graduate-level qualification, though details regarding the institution or field of study remain limited in available affidavits and biographical profiles.^[9] Nishad married Rama Nishad on 23 January 1988.^[1]

Political career

Entry into politics and pre-parliamentary activities

Ajay Nishad aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) early in his career, advocating for the Nishad community—a group of backward classes traditionally involved in fishing, boating, and related occupations along Bihar's rivers and lakes. This affiliation positioned him to address socioeconomic challenges faced by these communities in regions like Muzaffarpur.^[10] In October-November 2005, Nishad contested the Bihar Legislative Assembly election as the BJP candidate from the Kurhani constituency in Muzaffarpur district, marking his debut electoral bid at the state level. Although he did not secure victory in the multi-phase polls, the campaign helped forge initial grassroots connections among local voters, particularly within OBC demographics.^[11] Nishad's pre-parliamentary efforts drew significantly from his father, Jai Narain Prasad Nishad's established political footprint; the senior Nishad had represented Muzaffarpur Lok Sabha constituency as an MP and served as a Union minister, cultivating a legacy of Nishad representation in Muzaffarpur and adjacent Vaishali areas. This familial base enabled Ajay to leverage inherited networks for community mobilization prior to his national ascent.^[12]

Tenure as Member of Parliament (2014–2024)

Ajay Nishad was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014 as the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Muzaffarpur, defeating his nearest rival by a margin of 222,422 votes, equivalent to 23.4% of valid votes polled.^[13] He secured re-election to the 17th Lok Sabha in 2019, polling 666,878 votes or 63% of the valid votes, with a margin of approximately 409,988 votes over the runner-up.^[14] These victories reflected robust backing from the Nishad community, a key backward class demographic in the constituency, amid broader BJP gains in Bihar.^[1] During his tenure, Nishad served on several parliamentary committees, including the Standing Committee on Agriculture from September 2016, the Standing Committee on Coal and Steel until May 2019, and the Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes starting May 2019.^[1] His legislative engagement included high attendance rates of 95% in the 16th Lok Sabha and 93% in the 17th Lok Sabha, participation in 21 debates in the former and 34 in the latter, and posing 218 questions in the 16th Lok Sabha alongside 184 in the 17th.^[15][16] No private member's bills were introduced by him in either term. Nishad focused on constituency-specific challenges, particularly acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) outbreaks in Muzaffarpur, which claimed numerous children's lives annually and were linked to local factors such as litchi consumption and environmental conditions. He attributed persistent deaths to a combination of village-level vulnerabilities, heat, poverty, and poor sanitation—termed the "4G" factors—and urged enhancements in pediatric ICUs, doctor availability, and outbreak response infrastructure.^[17][18] Through parliamentary questions and interventions, he highlighted systemic gaps in health services for Muzaffarpur, a region prone to seasonal epidemics, while advocating for agricultural concerns tied to the area's litchi farming economy via his committee role.^[15]

2024 Lok Sabha election and switch to Indian National Congress

On April 2, 2024, Ajay Nishad resigned from the primary membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), citing a sense of betrayal following the denial of the party's nomination for the Muzaffarpur Lok Sabha constituency.^[19][20] The BJP had replaced him with Raj Bhushan Choudhary, another candidate from the Nishad community, in its fifth list of candidates announced earlier, reflecting internal party calculations on candidate selection amid competition for Extremely Backward Class (EBC) votes in Bihar.^[19][21] Nishad promptly joined the Indian National Congress (INC) later that day at the All India Congress Committee headquarters in New Delhi, in the presence of Bihar Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh and other leaders.^[22][23] The INC subsequently fielded him as its candidate for Muzaffarpur in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, positioning the contest as a direct challenge between two Nishad community leaders and highlighting tensions over backward class representation.^[24][25] During his campaign, Nishad focused on consolidating support among the Nishad and other EBC voters in Muzaffarpur, criticizing the BJP for allegedly undervaluing his contributions and attributing his past electoral successes to party leadership influence rather than grassroots efforts.^[26] He accused the BJP of sidelining dedicated workers in favor of internal favoritism, aiming to leverage local caste dynamics against the incumbent party's replacement candidate.^[26][27] In the election held on May 20, 2024, Nishad secured 384,822 votes but lost to BJP's Raj Bhushan Choudhary, who won with 619,749 votes, by a margin of 234,927 votes.^[28][29] This outcome underscored the BJP's retained dominance in the constituency despite the defection, amid broader NDA consolidation in Bihar.^[28]

Return to Bharatiya Janata Party (2025)

On October 10, 2025, Ajay Nishad, the former Muzaffarpur MP, rejoined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Patna, accompanied by his wife Rama Nishad, during a ceremony attended by Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal and other senior party leaders.^[4][5] This development took place as political parties intensified campaigns for the 2025 Bihar Legislative Assembly elections, with the BJP viewing the return as a boost to its organizational strength in the state.^[30] Following his reinduction, Nishad affirmed his dedication to advancing Bihar's development under the BJP's framework and supporting the formation of an NDA government in the upcoming polls.^[31] As a prominent figure from the Nishad community, his alignment signals a focus on community-specific initiatives, including welfare measures historically prioritized by the NDA to address fishermen and related occupational groups' concerns.^[10] The switch exemplifies frequent defections in Bihar's electoral landscape, where leaders maneuver to influence caste-based vote consolidation ahead of assembly contests; the NDA has leveraged such dynamics to stabilize support among Extremely Backward Classes like the Nishads, who alongside allied groups form approximately 9% of the electorate per the 2023 caste survey and demonstrated volatility in the 2024 Lok Sabha results before potential realignment.^[4][32][33]

Parliamentary contributions

Legislative roles and attendance

During his first term in the 16th Lok Sabha (2014–2019) representing Muzaffarpur, Ajay Nishad maintained an attendance record of 95%, surpassing the national average for MPs during that period. He participated in 21 debates and raised 218 questions in the House, focusing on issues such as welfare schemes for the differently abled and women empowerment, though he introduced no private member's bills.^[15] In the subsequent 17th Lok Sabha (2019–2024), Nishad's attendance stood at 93%, with increased debate participation totaling 34 instances and 184 questions posed, again without any private member's bills tabled. These metrics reflect sustained parliamentary involvement, particularly in question-hour activities, though below average in legislative initiation via bills. No records indicate membership in standing committees related to rural development or scheduled castes/tribes welfare during these terms.

Advocacy and constituency initiatives

During his tenure as Member of Parliament for Muzaffarpur from 2014 to 2024, Ajay Nishad focused on addressing recurrent health crises, particularly acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) outbreaks that have plagued the constituency, by raising demands for enhanced medical infrastructure and personnel. In June 2019, amid over 100 child deaths from AES in Muzaffarpur's Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital, Nishad attributed the vulnerability to a combination of rural underdevelopment (gaon), poverty (garibi), extreme heat (garmi), and global warming, urging systemic improvements in healthcare access.^[17][18] He specifically called for adequate medical facilities to combat Japanese Encephalitis in Muzaffarpur and adjoining areas, highlighting shortages of specialized doctors despite existing staff efforts during peak crises.^[16][34] Nishad also advocated for better implementation of central health schemes tailored to constituency needs, including proper rollout of Ayushman Bharat Yojana to cover vulnerable populations in Muzaffarpur.^[35] On flood mitigation in the flood-prone Gandak river basin, he acknowledged the 2019 monsoon impacts on 12 Bihar districts, including Muzaffarpur, and pressed for relief measures while critiquing delays in state-level responses.^[36] Through the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), Nishad recommended funds for local projects, such as purchasing books for schools, colleges, and libraries in Muzaffarpur, with tenders issued under his allocation; in 2016-17, he recommended ₹8.92 crore, leading to ₹9.98 crore in expenditures across 293 works.^[37][38] He further pushed for infrastructure upgrades, including expediting the Smart City project in Muzaffarpur and completing the bridge at Lakdidahi area to improve connectivity.^[16] These efforts aligned with broader central schemes for rural development, though measurable outcomes like reduced AES mortality or flood damages remained constrained by ongoing environmental and administrative challenges in the region.^[16]

Electoral history

Key election contests and outcomes

In the October-November 2005 Bihar Legislative Assembly elections, Ajay Nishad contested the Kurhani constituency as a Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate, polling 35,324 votes, which accounted for 33.72% of the valid votes in a total turnout of 104,757 votes; he finished second, losing to Janata Dal (United's Manoj Kumar Singh by a margin of 8,390 votes.^[39][40] Ajay Nishad first won the Muzaffarpur Lok Sabha constituency in the 2014 general election as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, securing victory by a margin of 222,422 votes (23.4% of valid votes), with a vote share of 49.46% amid 939,197 valid votes cast.^[13][41] In the 2019 general election, he was re-elected from the same seat for BJP, obtaining 666,878 votes (63.0% share), defeating Rashtriya Lok Samata Party's Raj Bhushan Choudhary by a margin of 409,988 votes out of 1,058,006 valid votes.^[14] In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Nishad switched to the Indian National Congress and contested Muzaffarpur but lost to BJP's Raj Bhushan Choudhary, who secured 619,749 votes; Nishad received 384,822 votes, resulting in a defeat by 234,927 votes out of approximately 1,010,000 valid votes.^[28][29]

Controversies

Party switching and political opportunism

Ajay Nishad demonstrated loyalty to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2014 to 2024, winning consecutive Lok Sabha seats from Muzaffarpur as its candidate. However, on April 2, 2024, following the BJP's decision to deny him a ticket for the 2024 elections in favor of Raj Bhushan Nishad, he resigned from all party posts and primary membership, citing "betrayal" by the leadership that had previously assured his renomination.^{[20] [42]} He joined the Indian National Congress (INC) the same day and received its nomination for Muzaffarpur.^[24] This alignment with the INC proved short-lived, lasting approximately 18 months. On October 10, 2025, Nishad rejoined the BJP alongside his wife, Rama Nishad, ahead of the Bihar Legislative Assembly elections scheduled for November.^{[4] [5]} The BJP portrayed the move as a strategic consolidation of support from the Nishad community, energizing its base in Muzaffarpur and signaling readiness to accommodate returning members for electoral gains within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).^[5] Nishad's rapid shifts have attracted accusations of opportunism, with detractors arguing that they prioritize ticket access and caste mobilization over ideological fidelity, a pattern emblematic of Bihar's volatile political alliances where defections often hinge on personal prospects rather than substantive disagreements.^[4] BJP critics at the time of his 2024 exit highlighted disloyalty after years of patronage, while his return prompted implicit INC-side concerns over flip-flopping that could undermine opposition cohesion against the NDA.^[43] Defenders, including NDA-aligned voices, frame the reversals as pragmatic realignments to advance Nishad community interests through the development-oriented NDA platform, noting his consistent advocacy for fishermen and backward castes irrespective of party label. Empirical data on Indian defections reveal over 1,000 parliamentary switches between 2014 and 2024, predominantly driven by electoral incentives without triggering anti-defection disqualifications for non-incumbent contests, underscoring systemic fluidity over individual malfeasance.^[5] No verified legal violations stem from Nishad's transitions, though his election affidavits disclose one pending criminal charge unrelated to politics.