Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Tuesday officially announced candidates for 22 of the 23 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar as part of the opposition grand alliance. Lalu Prasad’s daughters Rohini Acharya and Misa Bharti are also among the nominees.
According to a statement by RJD state president Jagdanand Singh, Acharya will contest from Saran, a seat his father has won several times.
Prasad held the post until he was disqualified in 2013 due to his conviction in the fodder scam. His eldest daughter Bharti, who is currently serving her second term in the Rajya Sabha, will contest from Patliputra Lok Sabha constituency.
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PTI The report quoted a party official as saying that RJD has not yet announced the name of any candidate for Siwan, where late Mohammad Shahabuddin was the party candidate for many years.
Following Shahabuddin’s disqualification, his widow Hina was unable to win the seat.
It is believed that Hina’s relations with Lalu Prasad and his family are strained. Under the seat-sharing agreement within the grand alliance, the RJD has retained 26 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, allocating nine seats to the Congress and five to the Left parties.
Last week, the RJD finalized an agreement with former Bihar minister Mukesh Sahni, whose Vikassheel Insaan party has been allotted three seats from its share.
RJD announced candidates for a total of 22 seats, including five seats where elections are to be held for the first two phases, and candidates from the party have already submitted their nomination papers. Sudhakar Singh has been given RJD ticket from Buxar Lok Sabha seat, while Ali Ashraf Fatmi and Surendra Prasad will contest from Madhubani and Jehanabad respectively.
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Anita Kumari Mahato from Munger is also included in the list of candidates. She got the party ticket after her marriage with notorious gangster Ashok Mahato. Ashok Mahato had political aspirations but could not contest elections independently due to criminal conviction.
The names of candidates like Acharya, Bharti, Sudhakar Singh, Ali Ashraf Fatmi and Surendra Prasad were earlier approved by the RJD supremo.
Other RJD candidates include Kumar Sarvjeet (Gaya), Shrawan Kumar Kushwaha (Nawada), Bima Bharti (Purnea) and Archana Ravidass (Jamui). All four have already filed their nominations.
RJD has also nominated Jai Prakash Yadav from Banka, Lalit Yadav from Darbhanga and Chandrahas Chaupal from Supaul.
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The party fielded Vijay Kumar Shukla from Vaishali, Abhay Kumar Kushwaha from Aurangabad, Shichandra Rai from Hajipu and Shahnawaz Alam from Araria.
Alok Kumar Mehta will contest on an RJD ticket from Ujiyarpur, Arjun Ai from Sitamarhi, Deepak Yadav from Valmikinagar, Ritu Jaiswal from Seohar and Kumar Chandradeep from Madhepura.
Lok Sabha elections for 40 seats in Bihar will be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1.
(With inputs from PTI)
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Published: April 10, 2024, 08:36 am IST
