Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Monday announced a list of candidates for 143 seats in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, fielding party leader Tejashwi Yadav from the Raghopur constituency in Vaishali district.
The announcement comes amid a stalemate within the INDIA bloc over seat-sharing arrangements ahead of the elections scheduled in two phases on November 6 and 11. Counting and declaration of results will take place on November 14.
The deadline for withdrawal of nomination papers for the first phase covering 121 seats is set for 3 pm on Monday. A total of 1,375 nominations had been accepted as of late Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Congress party released another list of six candidates on Monday, bringing its total number of announced candidates to 60.
The new list includes Surendra Prasad Kushwaha from Valmiki Nagar, Abidur Rehman from Araria, Jalil Mastan from Amour, Tauquir Alam from Barari, Praveen Singh Kushwaha from Kahalgaon, and Vinod Chaudhary from Sikandra (SC).
The announcement came despite the failure of the Mahagathbandhan alliance, comprising the RJD and Congress, to reach a formal seat-sharing agreement.
Also Read : AAP releases fourth list of 12 candidates for Bihar polls
Political defections have also been a notable feature this election season. Former MP and four-time MLA Sarfaraz Alam has formally joined Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party.
Alam, son of former Union Minister Mohammad Taslimuddin, has previously won the Jokihat assembly seat four times twice on the RJD ticket in 1996 and 2000, and twice on the Janata Dal (United) (JDU) ticket in 2010 and 2015.
In total, nine candidates who secured victories in the previous state elections under different party banners are now contesting under new affiliations.
Following the collapse of the Grand Alliance-led government last year, seven MLAs from the RJD and Congress have shifted allegiance to support the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), with all but one of these defectors receiving party tickets for the upcoming polls.
The evolving political dynamics in Bihar highlight the strategic shifts and realignments shaping the state’s electoral landscape ahead of the crucial assembly elections.
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