Janata Dal-United (JDU) on Wednesday released a list of 115 candidates for the Bihar Assembly polls. Interestingly, the party has denied tickets to 11 of its sitting MLAs while accommodating the turncoats.
In addition to this, Bihar's former DGP who recently joined JDU after taking voluntary retirement from the service failed to make it to the list.
From these 11 MLAs who lost tickets to turncoats to the former DGP who could not make it to the list, here are seven interesting takeaways from the seat allocation of JDU.
Seating MLAs who could not make it to the list
Sitting MLAs Kapil Dev Kamat from Babubarhi, Guljar Devi from Phulparas, Suneel Kumar Chaudhary from Benipur, Ramesh Singh Kushwaha from Jiradei, Raj Kishore Singh from Vaishali, Ramanand Prasad Singh from Parbatta, Janardan Manjhi from Amarpur, Ravi Jyoti Kumar from Rajgir, Dadan Pehalwan from Dumraon, Dhumal Singh from Ekma have failed to get tickets.
However, some of their relatives have been given the ticket. Ramanand Prasad Singh's son Sanjeev Kumar, Kapil Dev Kamat's daughter-in-law Meena Kamat, Dhumal Singh's wife Sita Devi got the opportunity to contest on JDU symbol.
Turncoats which were accommodated:
Ahead of polls, all MLAs who joined JDU have been given tickets.
The party has fielded RJD MLAs who joined JDU- Jayvardhan Yadav in Paliganj, Ashok Kumar in Sasaram, Maheshwar Prasad Yadav in Gayaghat, Faraz Fatmi in Darbhanga Rural, Virendra Kumar Singh in Tegda.
Congress MLAs Purnima Yadav will contest from Govindpur and Sudarshan from Barbigha on JDU's ticket.
The party has changed seats of three MLAs. Sitting MLA from Ghoshi Krishnanandan Prasad Verma will now contest from Jahanabad, Gora Bauram MLA Madan Sahni from Bahadurpur and Tikari MLA Abhay Kushwaha from Belaganj.
Ahead of polls, all MLAs who joined JDU have been given the ticket. The party has fielded RJD MLAs who joined JDU- Jayvardhan Yadav in Paliganj, Ashok Kumar in Sasaram, Maheshwar Prasad Yadav in Gayaghat, Faraz Fatmi in Darbhanga Rural, Virendra Kumar Singh in Tegda.
JDU's diminishing share in NDA:
This year, JDU has been allotted 122 seats and BJP has got 121 seats for Bihar Assembly polls. JDU will give seven seats to Jitan Ram Manjhi-led HAM from its 122 seats while the BJP will give 11 seats to Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) from its share of 121 seats.
In 2010, when JDU was in alliance with BJP, it had contested 141 seats and had allotted 101 seats to BJP. Even in 2005, JDU had managed to get 139 seats in the alliance. Now that the share of JDU has come down to 122, the party is no more a big brother in the alliance.
Robinhood' Gupteshwar Pandey misses the mark, fails to make BJP, JDU list
Pandey who had opted for VRS last month and joined JD(U) was aspiring to contest the assembly elections. He had reportedly preferred two constituencies -- Buxar and Shahpur from his home district. He had started preparations for the elections too and had claimed that thousands of his followers had visited to persuade him to contest the elections. Pandey today (Wednesday) said he was waiting for 'the call'.
Pandey, a 1987 batch IPS, had recently come into the limelight for making controversial statements on Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case. He had also sparked controversy for a sexist comment about the deceased actor's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty.
"Bihar ke mukhyamantri pe comment karne ki aukaat Rhea Chakraborty ki nahi hai," he had said. Pandey was also overtly critical of the Mumbai Police and their handling of the case.
Meanwhile, Buxar is represented by the Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Chaubey and he is strongly in favour of fielding a candidate of his choice. While BJP is yet to announce candidates for two seats from Buxar district -- Buxar and Brahampur, they have already announced a candidate from Shahpur and are reluctant to hand Pandey the ticket.
Ticket to Manju Verma:
In the JDU's list of candidates, one name which caught the attention of many was of former Bihar social welfare minister Manju Verma.
Verma was implicated in the 2018 Muzaffarpur shelter case and followed by it she was expelled from JD(U).
Verma, who held the social welfare portfolio in the Nitish Kumar cabinet, had stepped down on August 6, 2018, after a number of media reports alleged that her husband Chandrashekhar Verma had close links with Brajesh Thakur – the prime accused in the shelter home scandal.
A few weeks later, the CBI raided her bungalow in Patna besides the ancestral home of her husband in Arjun Tola locality of Begusarai district, where 50 cartridges of different dimensions were found.
The CBI informed the Cheria Bariarpur Police Station of the recovery and an FIR was lodged against the couple under the Arms Act. The husband-wife duo remained untraceable for long until Chandrashekhar Verma surrendered in the end of October 2018.
The former minister now will be contesting election from the Cheria Bariarpur constituency in Begusarai.
Manju Verma has been an MLA from Cheria-Bariarpur constituency twice in the past which falls under Begusarai Lok Sabha constituency.
Chandrika Rai from Parsa assembly constituency:
RJD boss Lalu Prasad’s ‘Samdhi’ Chandrika Rai has been nominated by the JDU from his traditional Parsa assembly seat in Saran district. Rai recently deserted his party (RJD) and joined JDU.
Chandrika Rai is the father of RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav's estranged wife Aishwarya Rai. The relations of both the families are strained at present.
Elections to the 243-seat Bihar assembly will be held in three phases--October 28, November 3, and 7, and the counting of votes will take place on November 10.
According to the seat-sharing formula with the BJP, the JD-U was allotted 122 out of the total 243 seats but has given seven seats to the Hindustani Awam Morcha led by former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.
As Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is a Member of the Legislative Council, he will not contest the election.
(With inputs from agencies)
