JD(U) releases first list of 57 candidates for Bihar assembly election

The JD(U)’s first list has 57 candidates with 27 new faces and 19 previous winners who have been retained

PATNA: Even as tussle over ticket distribution continues in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar, the Janata Dal (United), which has got 101 seats for 243 member state assembly, released its first list of 57 candidates, including on four seats said to be allocated to Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP(RV).

JD(U) MLA Gopal Mandal stages a protest outside Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's residence, demanding an election ticket for Gopalpur constituency, in Patna on Tuesday. (ANI)

On Wednesday morning, Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) president and Rajya Sabha MP, Upendra Kushwaha, reached Delhi to meet Union home minister Amit Shah to resolve his demands for more seats after his late Tuesday night meeting with junior home minister Nityanand Rai remained inconclusive.

The RLM, which has got six seats, wants additional seats such as Mahua assembly, which has been given to Paswan. According to a BJP leader, the LJP (RV) has been asked to put two seats on hold because of the ongoing discussions. As per the seat sharing arrangement, BJP and JD (U) are contesting on 101 seats, LJP (RV) on 29 and six seats each have gone to RLM and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s party, HAM-S.

“I am going to Delhi. Some thought needs to be done on the decisions that are being made in the NDA. I am going to Delhi to hold talks on the same. I’m hopeful that everything will be fine,” Kushwaha said. Majhi had also expressed his unhappiness over the seat sharing and announced candidates on two seats allocated to LJP (RV).

With nomination for first phase of polling to close on October 18, JD (U) in a statement said the candidates’ names have been released after approval of JD (U) president Nitish Kumar.

The list includes some new faces on seats swapped with the BJP and LJP, viz. Bikram, Barauli, Matihani etc., while retaining the sitting members and present ministers.

There are 10 seats for Scheduled Caste candidates and four for women. An important aspect of the ticket distribution is 27 new faces, while 19 previous winners have been retained. There are also 11 candidates who lost last time in JD (U)’s worst ever performance but have managed to get a ticket, shows an analysis of the list announced. The list, however, does not feature any Muslim candidate.

The party leaders said that the second list would also come out within a day or two.

The list included the names of Bihar ministers Vijay Kumar Choudhary (Shravan Kumar), Ratnesh Sada (Sonebarsa), Madan Sahni (Bahadurour), Maheshwar Hazari (Kalyanpur), Shrawan Kumar (Nalanda) and Sunil Kumar (Bhore).

Former ministers Harinarayan Singh (Harnaut), Shyam Razak (Phulwarisharif -R), Narendra Narayan Yadav (Alamnagar) have also been fielded, though the name of senior JD (U) minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, who filed his nomination from Supaul on Tuesday, is not there in the first list.

The JD (U) had gone ahead with nominating candidates for Sonbarsa, Morwa, Ekma and Rajgir seats, which had gone to LJP (RV) in the seat sharing.

The new faces include Rahul Singh (Dumraon) and Atirek Kumar (Kusheshwar Asthan), while JD (U) managed to take the Matihani seat for Rajkumar Singh, who won on the LJP-R ticket in 2020 but later switched over to Nitish’s party.

JD (U) working president Sanjay Jha dismissed speculations about dissension, terming it an attempt of a hapless opposition. “Chief minister Nitish Kumar will launch the poll campaign from Samastipur and Darbhanga on Thursday and that should be enough to silence the Doubting Thomases,” he said.

Jha said there was total clarity in the NDA and the JD (U). “No decision in the JD (U) is possible without the knowledge and consent of Nitish Kumar. He is the face of NDA. But he is a democratic person, not autocratic. He believes in debate and discussion, but every party decision has his approval,” said Jha.

A senior JD (U) leader said that JD (U) being a key ally of the NDA had everything sorted out amicably with the BJP, including the seat swaps, but when so many seats have to be decided, there can always be some unease to some candidates.

“In the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, when JD(U) contested in an alliance with the RJD, both contested 101 seats each. The same number JD (U) is contesting this time and everything is in the knowledge of the CM,” he added.

He said JD (U) swapped some sitting seats with the BJP to accommodate key leaders. While it left its sitting Tarapur seat for BJP leader and deputy CM Samrat Choudhary, BJP’s sitting Kahalgaon seat is set to go to JD (U)’s Shubhanand Mukesh, son of former Bihar Congress president Sadanand Singh, who had joined JD (U) in 2021 after failing to retain the seat his father had represented eight times.

Similarly, there is also a likelihood of swap on the Karakat, Dinara, Sasaram, Barauli and Gopalganj seats to set the equation right and the final picture would be reflected in the second list.