Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 14: Even as the party sources said talks were still on between the NDA constituents over constituency-wise allocation of seats, the BJP on Tuesday released its first list of 71 candidates for the two-phase Bihar state Assembly elections to be held on November 6 and 11.
The party has denied ticket to three sitting MLAs, including assembly Speaker and seven time MLA from Patna Sahib, Nand Kishore Yadav. He has been replaced by new candidate Ratnesh Kushwaha. The party has also changed candidates on 15 seats. Nearly 53 candidates have been retained in the first list.
“I stand by the BJP’s decision. The BJP has given me a lot. I have no complaints with the party. The new generation is welcomed and congratulated. The people of Patna Sahib Assembly have made me victorious seven consecutive times. I will never forget the affection and love they gave me as a BJP candidate. I am grateful to everyone,” Nand Kishore Yadav said in press statement after not being named by the party from Patna Sahib Assembly seat.
Out of 71, nine are women. Health Minister Mangal Pandey who is member of Bihar Legislative Council is fielded from Siwan Assembly seat. Ram Kripal Yadav who had lost 2024 Lok Sabha election against RJD’s Misa Bharti in Patliputra seat is fielded from Danapur Assembly seat.
In the opposition Mahagathbandhan camp, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad had started distributing party ticket to several candidates until his son and heir apparent, Tejashwi Yadav, early on Tuesday pointed out that the INDIA bloc, helmed in Bihar by the RJD was yet to formally announce a seat-sharing formula. Despite two rounds of talks between the leaders of the RJD and its second most important constituent, the Congress, in Delhi, the alliance has so far failed to arrive at an agreed formula.
In the BJP list, the Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha has retained his seat from Lakhisarai. Altogether 12 Cabinet minister of Nitish Kumar government have been given ticket by the BJP. The other Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary is being fielded from Tarapur Assembly seat, Mr Choudhary has contested the last Assembly election in 2010 from Parbatta Assembly seat.
Miffed with ticket distribution, the JD(U)‘s Bhagalpur MP Ajay Kumar Mandal sought to resign on Tuesday stating that he was not consulted over the distribution of ticket in his region. The Nitish Kumar-led party is yet to comment on the letter, which Mr Mandal shared on X. “Despite being a member of parliament from Bhagalpur, the party has not reached out to me for advice regarding ticket distribution in the region. In that case, there is no point holding the MP post,” he said in the letter, addressed to Mr Kumar.
Both the BJP and JD(U) will contest 101 seats each, while the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) led by Union Minister Chirag Paswan will contest 29 seats. The Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) led by Upendra Kushwaha and the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) led by Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi have been allocated six seats each.
As Bihar prepares for phase one of Assembly polls on November 6, the Election Commission has warned that bulk SMSes and audio messages during the 48-hour ‘silence period’ which starts before the conclusion of voting, is prohibited.
In a note outlining campaigning restrictions, the poll authority said, political advertisements on any election matter in TV, cable networks, radio, cinema halls, use of bulk SMS/voice messages, audio visual displays in any polling area during the period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for the conclusion of the poll for any election in the polling area is prohibited.