India, June 14 -- Ahead of this year's Assembly elections, Bihar revives commissions apparently to balance alliances, and not empower communities.

NEW DELHI: In the run-up to the Bihar Assembly elections scheduled for October-November 2025, the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government has revived 10 state-level commissions, covering nearly every politically relevant segment - from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to minorities, upper castes, Mahadalits, madrasa educators, food security, fishermen, and price regulation.

While officially projected as inclusive and welfareoriented, the structure and composition of these bodies point to a calculated political exercise aimed at rewarding loyalists, managing caste equations, and accommodating rel...