BJP Announces First List Of 71 Candidates For Bihar Assembly Polls; NDA Seat Talks Still Underway

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday unveiled its initial list of 71 candidates for the two-phase Bihar assembly elections scheduled for November 6 and 11. The party has replaced candidates in 15 constituencies and denied tickets to three sitting MLAs, including Assembly Speaker and seven-time Patna Sahib MLA Nand Kishore Yadav.

Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, currently a member of the legislative council, will make his assembly poll debut from Tarapur, while Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha will contest again from Lakhisarai. Mangal Pandey, a cabinet member in the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government, will contest from Siwan.

The list also features former MPs Ram Kripal Yadav, who will fight from Danapur, and Sunil Kumar Pintu, contesting from Sitamarhi after rejoining the BJP. Among notable omissions are MLAs Arun Kumar Sinha (Kumhrar) and Amrendra Pratap Singh (Ara).

New entrants include IRS officer Sujit Kumar Singh, who recently joined the BJP and will contest from Gaura Bauram, replacing his wife Swarna Singh. The first list includes nine women candidates, among them Renu Devi, Gayatri Devi, and Rama Nishad.

Key figures like Prem Kumar from Gaya, former Deputy CM Tarkishore Prasad from Katihar, and Alok Ranjan Jha from Saharsa are also among the candidates.

The NDA, which includes BJP, JD(U), LJP (Ram Vilas), HAM (Secular), and Rashtriya Lok Morcha, earlier agreed on a seat-sharing formula: BJP and JD(U) will contest 101 seats each, LJP (RV) 29 seats, and HAM (S) and RLM six each. Talks are ongoing regarding specific seat allocations among alliance members.