The CPI(ML) Liberation, a constituent of the INDIA bloc in Bihar, on Saturday released its list of 20 candidates for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, renominating all its 12 sitting MLAs.
The party fielded new faces in seats which it could not win in the 2020 assembly polls. The Left party had, in the last assembly elections, contested 19 seats and won 12 of these.
"We have maintained the spirit of coalition. Although we deserved more seats this time, we finally decided to contest only 20 assembly segments. We wanted to contest at least 24 seats this time, but it could not be materialised," CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said after releasing the list of candidates.
"I am confident that the 'Mahatgathbandhan' will win the polls with a thumping majority. People are tired of the NDA government," he added.
Prominent party MLAs, who have been re-nominated, are Amarjeet Kushwaha, Satyadeo Ram, Gopal Ravi Das, Sandeep Saurav, Shiv Prakash Ranaj, Ajeet Kumar Singh, Birendra Prasad and Mahboob Alam.
Diya Gautam, Anil Kumar, and Phoolbabu Singh are among others.
All candidates of assembly seats, which will go to the polls in the first phase on November 6, have already filed their nomination papers, he said.
These candidates include Dhananjay from Bhore seat, Amarjeet Kushwaha from Ziradei, Satyadeo Ram from Darauli and Amarnath Yadav from Daraunda. Ranjeet Kumar Ram has been fielded from Kalyanpur, Phoolbabu Singh from Warisnagar, and Bishwanath Chaudhry from Rajgir.
The party nominated Divya Gautam from Digha, Gopal Ravi Das from Phulwari, Sandeep Saurav from Paliganj, Quyamuddin Ansari from Ara, Shiv Prakash Ranjan from Agiain and Madan Singh from Tarari and Ajit Kumar Singh from Dumraon.
Bhattacharya also said the party was forced to drop Jitendra Paswan from the Bhore seat after he was framed in a fake case by the state, as he came close the winning the election the last time.
"... at one place, we had to change the candidate under pressure. In Bhore, our candidate lost the election by just 400 votes last time. Jitendra Paswan has been targeted ever since," he said.
Paswan was arrested right after he filed his nomination.
"There were plenty of indications that he would not be allowed to become an MLA and would be arrested," Bhattacharya said.
Former JNUSU president Dhananjay has now been picked to fight from the Bhore seat.
Sitting MLA from Darauli, Satyadeo Ram, was also arrested soon after he filed his nomination.
"Satyadeo ji, who is our deputy leader, was arrested for a day in a 2005 case of stopping a train...They have always harassed us a little, but in some cases, we see that it is not just harassment...It is serious persecution and targeting," he said.
Bhattacharya said CPI(ML) leaders have been targeted earlier as well, but in past, it was local feudal lords who targeted it.
Now it's being done by the state machinery, he alleged.
"On the Bhore seat, our comrade Umesh Paswan was there. In the election of 1995, for the first time, we got more than 15,000 votes there. And in 1997, many people don't remember this, when Chandrashekhar was killed, at the same time, Umesh Paswan was killed in Gopalganj," he said.
"But at that time, local feudal forces used to support the use of violence to stop the CPI(ML)'s emergence. But now, the whole state is trying to trap them," he said.
"Manoj Manzil, who was our MLA last time from Agiaon, was framed in a false case and disqualified...So this is happening in a much more systematic way than before," he said.
Bhattacharya regretted that the party could field only one woman candidate, but said he has faith in Divya Gautam, who lost the president's election in Patna University by a very few votes.
The elections to the 243-member assembly will be held on November 6 and 11, and the votes will be counted on November 14.
(With inputs from PTI)
