was a notable leader from Mallah community. However, the prominence of Yadavs made many aspirational backward caste dissatisfied, who were forced to seek place in electoral politics elsewhere. The Dalit caste after being marginalised in the Rashtriya Janata Dal thus moved towards the socialist leader Ram Vilas Paswan who championed the cause of the numerically weak backward communities and the dominant Dalit caste, Dusadh. The Mallah community later supported Nitish Kumar until 2015, when Mukesh Sahani entered the political arena of Bihar. Sahani called himself "Son of Mallah" and cultivated support amongst the Nishad community, who were electorally influential in some pockets of Bihar. Initially, his campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party as the leader of Mallah caste made the community vote in favour of BJP in 2014 elections, but later on he joined the Mahagathbandhan (Bihar), a grand alliance of opposition parties in Bihar which includes Rashtriya Janata Dal and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party among others. The walking out of Sahani led Vikassheel Insaan Party out of National Democratic Alliance was due to alleged betrayal of Bihar government under Nitish Kumar to grant Scheduled Tribe status to Mallah caste. Distribution in Bihar The Mallah community is present all over Bihar though sparingly. They are dominant in districts like Muzaffarpur and Vaishali. In Muzaffarpur region politically they have emerged as most influential caste leaving behind Bhumihar, Rajput, Koeri, Kurmi and Yadav. Since decades the Member of Parliament from this constituency has remained from the Mallah caste only. In Pakistan In Sindh In Sindh, the Mallaah are traditionally boatmen and fisherfolk, living along the inlets of the Indus delta. They speak Sindhi, and are close associated with Mohana tribe. The Mallaah are found mainly in the coastal districts of Thatta and Badin, and most are largely still fishermen. Many have seen their traditional areas of habitation washed away by the sea. The Indus Delta is also silting, which makes cultivation difficult. An important subsidiary occupation is animal husbandry, with the Mallaah raising cattle. Although living in close proximity to the Jath community, who customs are similar to the Mallaah, there is almost no intermarriage. The Mallaah community consists of a number of clans, referred to as nukh, the largest Mallaah nukh being the Dablo. In Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa In Punjab, the boatmen belong either to the Mallaah or Jhabel tribe. In south west Punjab, they often claim themselves to be