New Delhi: Bihar deputy chief ministers—Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha—and several ministers including Mangal Pandey, an MLC, have been fielded by the BJP in the Bihar assembly election slated next month. Their names figure in the list of 71 candidates released by the party Tuesday.
Of the 71 candidates in the BJP’s first list, nine are women.
The party has denied a ticket to senior party leader and speaker of the Bihar assembly Nand Kishore Yadav who has served as a minister in several departments in Bihar. Yadav is a seven-term MLA from the Patna Sahib seat. In place of Yadav, the party has fielded advocate Ratnesh Kushwaha.
Ratnesh had represented the Centre in a case before the Patna High Court related to an AI-generated video featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s late mother, Heeraben Modi. The video was posted by the Bihar Congress on social media, and it showed the PM dreaming about his deceased mother, who could be seen criticising his politics in poll-bound Bihar.
The Patna High Court had found the video to be defamatory and derogatory. It had issued directions to the Congress party to remove it from all social media platforms. The issue had snowballed into a major controversy.
“I stand with the decision of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Bharatiya Janata Party has given me a lot. I have no complaints against the party. Welcome to the new generation, congratulations. The people of Patna Sahib Assembly have made me victorious continuously seven times. The affection and love they have given me as a BJP candidate, I will never forget. Thanks to everyone,” Yadav said after being denied a ticket.
The party has also denied a ticket to minister Motilal Prasad; sitting MLA Ram Prit Paswan has also not been fielded.
Other than these, the BJP has largely picked old faces, including minister Nitin Nabin from Bankipur constituency and former deputy CM Renu Devi who will contest from Bettiah.
Folk singer Maithili Thakur, who met BJP election in-charge Vinod Tawde and Union Minister Nityanand Rai last week, joined the BJP on Tuesday. The BJP is likely to give her a ticket for the assembly elections.
According to a senior BJP leader, the focus is on bringing a mix of young faces and experienced leaders. So far, around 11 EBCs, 20 OBCs, 6 from SC-ST are part of the list declared by the party.
On Sunday, the party had finalised its seat-sharing with NDA alliance partners. The BJP as well as the JDU are contesting polls on 101 seats each.
As per the list, Deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary will contest from Tarapur, Deputy CM Vijay Sinha from Lakhisarai and Mangal Pandey from Siwan. Minister Nitish Mishra will seek re-election from Jhanjharpur seat.
The first list of the party also includes nine women candidates. The party has also fielded former MP and minister Ram Kripal Yadav and another former MP Sunil Kumar Pintu from Sitamarhi.
Pintu, a former MP from Sitamarhi was re-inducted into the party after joining the JDU (at the BJP’s direction) in 2019, after the official JDU candidate pulled out of the contest ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP list assumes significance in the backdrop of allegations of corruption levelled by Jan Suraaj Party’s Prashant Kishor, among others, against three senior Bihar BJP leaders—Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, Dilip Jaiswal, and Mangal Pandey. Kishor has aggressively been campaigning for his party, which experts say may lead to a triangular contest this time round.
MLAs who were denied tickets include—Nand Kishore Yadav (Patna Sahib), Arun Sinha (Kumhrar), Amrendra Pratap Singh (Ara), Ram Surat Rai (Aurai), Motilal Sah (Riga), Rampreet Paswan (Rajnagar), Pranav Yadav (Munger) and Swarn Singh (Gaura Bauram).
A sitting MLA who joined the BJP a few days back from the Congress—Siddharth Saurav—has been fielded from Bikram by the party. From Arwal, a new face—the state spokesperson of the party Manoj Sharma—has been fielded.
Bihar assembly elections will be held in two phases, 6 & 11 November, and the results will be out on 14 November.
The India bloc is yet to announce its seat-sharing formula. For the upcoming assembly elections, the NDA will rely on developmental works and welfare schemes. Just ahead of the announcement of election dates, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana—a Bihar government initiative, under which 7.5 million women will get Rs 10,000 each for starting their own ventures. The BJP is hopeful women will once again vote for the party in large numbers.
Speaking to the media, BJP state president Dilip Jaiswal said: “Many people did not expect the list to be released so quickly. First, the seat-sharing was completed by the NDA alliance. While the Maha-Gathbandhan was still deliberating, the NDA alliance finalised its seat-sharing. Early this morning, they also took steps to mobilise support. As I had mentioned, the NDA is like the five Pandavas—a strong alliance. We are set to form the government with a clear majority under the leadership of Nitish Kumar….”
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: NDA’s 101 in Bihar: No ‘big brother’ as BJP, JD(U) to contest equal number of seats