Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) on Wednesday named its candidates for 57 assembly constituencies for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections scheduled to be held in two phases—on November 6 and 11.
The party has, however, denied tickets to its four sitting MLAs and given chances to 27 new faces. Altogether 18 MLAs have been retained.
In the first list, JD (U) did not give a ticket to any Muslim. Names of four women candidates figured in the list. In addition, three Bahubalis (known for their muscle power) will contest election on the tickets of JD (U).
Out of 57, 12 candidates are from the Scheduled Castes (SC), which constitute nearly 19.65 per cent of the state’s population.
As per the list, 12 candidates come from Scheduled Castes, 23 from Luv-Kush community (Koeri-Kurmi) and nine from Extremely Backward Community (EBCs). EBCs constitute nearly 36 per cent of the state’s population. Four women—Kavita Saha (Madhepura), Komal Singh (Gaighat), Ashwamedh Devi (Samastipur) and Raveena Kushwaha (Vibhutipur) will fight the election on JD(U) tickets.
Six ministers in the Nitish Kumar cabinet namely Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Shawana Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Maheshwar Hazari, Madan Sahni and Ratnesh Sada have been fielded from Sarairanjan, Nalanda, Bhore, Kalyanpur, Bahadurpur and Sonbarsa assembly constituencies.
Former MLA Anant Singh, who is known for his muscle power in Mokama-Barh region, has been fielded from Mokama. He filed his nomination papers on Wednesday. Similarly, Manoranjan Prasad Singh alias Dhumal Singh and Amrendra Kumar Pandey will seek their re-election from Ekma and Kuchai Kott assembly seats. They all have criminal cases pending against them.
Four sitting MLAs namely Aman Bhushan Hazari (Kusheshwar Asthan), Ashok Kumar Choudhary (Sakra), Ashok Kumar (Warisnagar) and Sudarshan Kumar (Barbigha) have been dropped from the list.
Meanwhile, JD (U) also announced names of its candidates for those five seats--Alauli, Sonbarsa, Rajgir, Ekma and Morwa – on which union minister Chirag Paswan wanted to field his party, LJP (RV)`s candidates. For Chirag, Alauli seat in Khagaria district, happened to be an issue of prestige for it being his native place.
