The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), led by Chirag Paswan, on Wednesday announced its first list of 14 candidates for the Bihar Assembly elections. The party will contest 29 seats under the final seat-sharing arrangement within the National Democratic Alliance. Raju Tiwari will contest from Govindganj. Sanjay Kumar Singh will run from Simri Bakhtiyarpur. Vishnu Dev Paswan will contest Darouli. Seemant Mrinal will contest Garkha. Surendra Kumar will run from Sahebpur Kamal. Sanjay Kumar will contest Bakhri. Babulal Shaurya will run from Parbatta. Other candidates include Mithun Kumar from Nathnagar, Sunil Kumar from Paliganj, Hulas Pandey from Brahmpur, Rajiv Ranjan Singh from Dehri, Sangita Devi from Balrampur, Rani Kumari from Makhdumpur, and Prakash Chandra from Obra.
Meanwhile, the BJP released its second list of 12 candidates, taking the total number of declared candidates to 83 out of 101 seats allotted to the party. Folk singer Maithili Thakur will contest from Alinagar in Darbhanga. Former IPS officer Anand Mishra will run from Buxar. Mishra had earlier been part of Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj party and led its Youth Wing. The BJP had declared candidates in 71 seats on Tuesday.
The Janata Dal (United) released its first list of 57 candidates, approved by party president and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The list does not include any Muslim candidates. Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustan Awam Morcha (Secular) announced six candidates on Tuesday, four of whom are sitting MLAs.
Under the NDA seat-sharing agreement, the BJP and JD(U) will contest 101 seats each. LJP (Ram Vilas) will contest 29 seats, while Rashtriya Lok Morcha and Hindustani Awam Morcha will contest six seats each.
The 243-seat Bihar Assembly elections will be held in two phases on November 6 and November 11. Counting of votes is scheduled for November 14.