Beyond Mandal: Developmental populism and the persistence of caste in Bihar’s electoral politics

This article examines the persistence of caste in Bihar’s electoral politics amid governance reforms and welfare expansion between 2005 and 2025. Drawing on the Bihar caste survey (2023) and the Assembly election (2025), it develops the concept of Developmental Populist Governance to explain how caste-based elite power-sharing coexists with welfare-driven mobilisation. It argues that development does not displace identity politics but reshapes it, with welfare mediated through caste networks. Using qualitative analysis, the study shows that caste remains central to political behaviour, contributing to broader debates on how welfare stabilises democracy without transforming underlying social hierarchies.