PATNA: With barely two days left for filing nomination papers for the first phase of the Bihar assembly elections, political activities have intensified in the state. Congress, a major ally of the Opposition INDIA bloc, has started allotting party symbols to its candidates even as a seat-sharing deal is yet to be formally announced.
Congress released its list of 17 candidates, posting the announcement on its official X handle even as seat-sharing arrangements within INDIA bloc remained unresolved. The party has fielded Anand Shanker Singh from Aurangabad, Pratima Das from Rajapakar, Shiv Prakash Garib Das from Bachhawara and Kaushalendra Kumar (Chhote Mukhiya) from Nalanda.
Similarly, Om Prakash Garg will contest election from Gopalganj, Jitendra Singh from Amarpur, Amita Bhushan from Begusarai, Lalan Kumar from Sultanganj, Rajesh Kumar from Kutumba, Shashi Sekhar from Warsaliganj, Trishuldhari Singh from Barbigha, Vijendra Choudhary from Muzaffarpur.
In addition, Shashi Bhushan Rai has been fielded from Govindganj, Anil Kumar from Bikram, and B K Ravi from Rosera assembly seats. Sources said that more names would be cleared after consultation with leaders of the INDIA bloc.
The Congress Central Election Committee (CCEC) had approved candidates for 43 seats. The sub-committee, headed by Ajay Makan, is said to have cleared the names of eight more candidates on Wednesday.
In the ruling NDA camp, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released names of all 101 candidates. The third list of 18 candidates were released late on Wednesday.
According to the list, Bina Devi will contest from Kochadhaman, Sangita Kumari from Mohania, Sanjay Pandey from Narkatiaganj, Satish Kumar Yadav from Raghopur and Bharat Bind from Bhabua.
Murari Paswan will join the fray from Pirpainti and Ashok Kumar Singh from Ramgarh. Earlier the party has released second list of 12 candidates, including folk singer Maithili Thakur from Alinagar and former IPS officer Anand Mishra from Buxar. With this, the BJP has announced candidates for all 101 seats.
NDA’s ally--Janata Dal (United) has released its first list of 57 candidates. Senior leaders like Umesh Kushwaha and Vijendra Prasad Yadav have already filed their nominations from the Mahnar and Supaul seats. Vijay Kumar Chaudhary is expected to file his nomination papers from Sarairanjan on Thursday.
Under the seat-sharing pact within NDA, BJP and JD(U) will contest 101 seats each, LJP(RV) 29, HAM and RLM six seats each.
Bihar assembly elections will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. The counting of votes will take place on November 14. The total number of voters stands at 7.42 crore, down from 7.89 crore in June this year.
