Nitish Kumar’s JDU has released the names of 115 candidates for the Bihar polls.
Patna:
Chandrika Roy, a close relative of RJD president Lalu Prasad, has been nominated by the JD (U) from his traditional seat in the Parsa assembly, but the name of former head of state police Gupteshwar Pandey is not on the list of 115 candidates published by the party on Wednesday.
The JD (U) released the list of candidates at a press conference led by State President Basistha Narayan Singh, Rajya Sabha party leader RCP Singh and its acting state chairman Ashok Choudhary.
The party led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has already allocated seven seats out of its 122-seat quota in the 243-member assembly to its associate partner Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.
Mr. Roy, father of Tej Pratap Yadav’s estranged wife, Aishwarya, had recently moved to JD (U) from RJD.
Roy, son of former Prime Minister Daroga Prasad Rai and minister in the RJD government in the past also in the 2015 Grand Alliance ministry, will be in conflict with the Parsa constituency in the Saran district, which he has represented six times in the past.
The name of former state police chief Gupteshwar Pandey, who took VRS last month and was later granted JD (U) membership by the chief minister himself, does not appear on the list of nominees made public during the day.
Buxar, Pandey’s hometown, and the Shahpur constituency from which there was speculation in the media that he might contest the state elections, have addressed the BJP under the seat-sharing formula.
The JD (U) won two seats in Buxar, Dumraon and Rajpur district (SC reserved), where it appointed Anjum Ara and Minister of State Santosh Kumar Nirala respectively.
Kumar’s party has yet to nominate anyone to the seat of Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha, who will hold by-elections on November 7.
The secondary vote has been required due to the death of MP JD (U) itting Baidyanath Mahto. There was agitated speculation in the media about the possibility that the former DGP was sent from there.
Pandey, who had made national headlines in the case of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, hopes that he will now rest in the Valmiki Nagar elections or a position on the legislative council in the future.
Although Mr. Pandey could not find a place on the JD (U) list, his former police colleague Sunil Kumar, who retired as Director General (Home Guards) has recently been nominated by the JD (U) of Bhore (reserved seat) in Gopalganj District.
Most of the ministers and turncoats have received a ticket from JD (U).
The outgoing assembly president, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, will compete from his traditional Saraiganj headquarters in the Samastipur district.
Ministers: Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Ram Sevak Singh, Shrawan Kumar, Jai Kumar Singh, Bima Bharti, Madan Sahni, Khursheed Firoz Ahmad, Shailesh Kumar and Krishnandan Prasad Varma have been repeated in their former electoral districts.
Jaivardhan Singh Yadav, grandson of the former Bihar minister and a powerful leader of the Yadav community, Ramlakhan Singh Yadav, received a ticket from his former Paliganj seat; while Faraz Fatmi has been appointed from the Darbhanga rural headquarters. They had both left RJD and joined JD (U) recently.
The two RLSP MPs, Lallan Paswan and Sudhansu Sekhar, who had joined Mr. Kumar’s party have also been reappointed.
HAM has already appointed its seven candidates. Jitan Ram Manjhi submitted his nomination on Wednesday from the Imamganj (SC reserved) seat.
.
