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LJP releases names of 42 candidates for first phase of Bihar polls
The list includes ex-BJP workhorses and also former members from the JD-U. There are nine women in the list of 42. In the first phase, 71 seats are going to polls.
The Lok Janshakti Party, going solo in the coming polls, on Thursday released its list of 42 candidates for the first phase of Bihar elections - that rolls on October 28.
The number is significant as it is what the LJP had earlier demanded as part of the NDA seat-sharing talks. Now, it has released a list of 42 candidates for the first phase itself, while it plans to contest over 125 out of the 243 seats in the Bihar legislative Assembly.
The list includes ex-BJP workhorses and also former members from the JD-U. There are nine women in the list of 42. In the first phase, 71 seats are going to polls.
According to LJP sources, party chief Chirag Paswan cleared the list late last night.
Chirag Paswan, the LJP chief, also congratulated the party candidates and wished them good luck via Twitter. He reiterated that “any vote going to the JD-U candidates would be akin to ruining Bihar”.
“I am not able to be in your midst due to father’s illness. As soon as he gets well, I will be there. Advance congratulations for your victory in the assembly elections,” he added. Ram Vilas Paswan passed away this evening.
The list has all the big names of the ex-BJP leaders and disgruntled leaders from the JD-U, which HT had carried on Wednesday. It has a mix of upper caste and Dalit candidates. “Most of the district LJP chiefs have been accommodated, while the significant thing is 20% representation to women,” said LJP spokesman Vikas Mishra.
With candidates like ex-BJP vice president Rajendra Singh (from Dinara), former MLA and senior BJP leader Rameshwar Chaursia ( from Nokha), former MLA Usha Vidyarthi (from Paliganj), Jhajha sitting MLA Ravindra Yadav, former Bihar minister Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, former MLS Hulash Pandey, the LJP has tried to use the party hoppers to bolster its prospects.
However, political observers say that the LJP delayed the list deliberately to assess the situation. “It has done the ticket distribution carefully with an eye on the post-poll scenario in which BJP could emerge as the single largest party with a good margin over the JD-U,” said social analyst Prof Ajay Jha.
Political analyst and former head, department of economics, NK Choudhary said that LJP ticket distribution seemed to be crafted for the situation. “In Bihar, politics is in full flow away from the constituencies in an election which will be fought more on the names of big leaders and less on the worth of candidates, who will hardly get time and opportunity to meet the people. The voters will also rely more on second hand information through social or mainstream media. But in politics, things don’t always go as per plan,” he added.
Prof Shaibal Gupta of the Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) said that LJP manoeuvrings had suddenly made the election, which was once looking one-aided in favour of NDA, interesting, with the prospect of triangular contest on several seats.
