Nitish Kumar's JD(U) defies ally Paswan, names candidates for LJP-claimed seats

Nitish Kumar

A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party named 71 candidates as part of the first list for the upcoming assembly polls in Bihar, Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United JD(U) came out with 57 names in its first list. Beside, the inclusion of incumbent ministers and Nitish loyalists, what has caught everybody by surprise is JD(U)'s declaration of names on those seats, that were expected to go to Chirag Paswan's LJP (Ram Vilas).

Five ministers in the current dispensation have retained their seats. Three strongmen, including Anant Kumar Singh, also feature in the JDU's first list. Four women candidates are on the first list.

JDU and BJP are contesting 101 seats each in the election to the 243-member Bihar Assembly. The remaining seats are divided between Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha and Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Morcha.

Chirag Paswan, who scored a 5/5 in the Lok Sabha election last year, has bargained hard this time. In the 2020 polls, he went solo, harming the NDA candidates in several constituencies.

At least five seats on which the JD(U) has declared candidates were expected to go into Chirag Paswan's PARTY as part of the initial seat-sharing. NDTV, citing party insiders reported that this had upset Nitish Kumar and he stressed that these seats must stay with his party. The five seats eyed by both parties include Morwa, Sonbarsa, Rajgir, Gaighat and Matihani. JDU has announced candidates for all these seats today. In the 2020 polls, RJD won in Morwa and Gaighat, and JDU in Rajgir and Sonbarsa. In Matihani, Lok Janshakti Party's Rajkumar Singh emerged victorious, but he later switched to the JDU.

The five ministers who made it to the first list are Rural Development Minister Shravan Kumar, who will contest from Nalanda, Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (Sarairanjan), Information and Public Relations Minister Maheshwar Hazari (Kalyanpur), Social Welfare Minister Madan Sahni (Bahadurpur) and Prohibition Minister Ratnesh Sada from Sonbarsa.