PATNA: Both the NDA and INDIA bloc have put their efforts in top gear for by-elections to four assembly seats in Bihar.
On Sunday, the INDIA bloc announced its candidates for all four seats. Ajit Singh, son of state RJD president Jagdanand Singh, will represent the party in Ramgarh, while Vishwanath Kumar Singh, son of RJD MP Surendra Yadav, is the nominee for Belaganj.
Similarly, RJD gave a ticket to Roshan Manjhi, a former member of the Zila Parishad in Gaya from Imamganj.
Meanwhile, the CPI (ML) has nominated Raju Yadav for Tarari. Raju previously ran for the Ara Lok Sabha seat in 2019 but was unsuccessful. In the last parliamentary election, however, CPI (ML) candidate Sudama Prasad defeated two-term BJP MP and former Union Minister R.K. Singh.
By-elections to Ramgarh, Bela, Imamganj and Tarari constituencies were necessitated after sitting MLAs Sudhakar Singh, Surendra Yadav, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and Sudama Prasad were elected to Lok Sabha in the last election.
From the NDA side, BJP has fielded former MLA Ashok Kumar Singh and greenhorn Vishal Prashant as its candidates for by-elections to Ramgarh and Tarari assembly segments.
Former chief minister Manjhi has fielded his daughter-in-law Deepa Manjhi from Imamganj as the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) candidate.
The by-elections for these four seats are significant, given that the NDA government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is surviving on a wafer-thin majority.
In February this year, the Nitish Kumar government won the floor test in Bihar with the support of 129 MLAs when the simple majority mark was 122 in the 243-member Assembly.
Before the trust motion was put to vote, NDA could muster the support of only 125 MLAs although it succeeded in removing Bihar Assembly Speaker and RJD leader Awadh Bihari Choudhary from the post.
Voters will cast their ballots for these by-elections on November 13, with the counting of votes scheduled for November 23. The deadline for filing nominations is October 25, and the deadline for the candidates to withdraw their candidacy is October 30.