STAFF REPORTER
Soon after finalising seat sharing with JDu, BJP today released the list of 27 candidates for the first phase for Bihar assembly elections. The names include international shooter Shreyasi Singh from Jamui constituency and former MP Hari Manjhi from Bodhgaya. Singh had joined the party on Sunday.
The list of candidates includes: Pawan Kumar Yadav (Kahalgaon), Ram Narayan Mandal (Banka), Nikki Abraham (Katoria), Pravan Kumar Yadav (Munger), Vijay Kumar Sinha (Lakhisarai), Gyanendra Kumar Singh Janu (Barh), Atul Kumar (Bikram), Raghvendra Pratap Singh (Badhhara), Amrendra Pratap Singh (Arrah), Kaushal Kumar Singh (Tarai), Mutri Devi (Shahpur), Ashok Singh (Ramgarh), Niranjan Ram (Mohania), Rinki Rani Pandey (Bhabua), Brij Kishor Bind (Chainpur), Satyanarayan Singh Yadav (Dehri), Rajeshwar Raj (Karakat), Manoj Kumar Sharma (Goh), Ramadhar Singh (Aurangabad), Rajiv nandan Dangi (Gurua), Hari Manjhi (Bodh Gaya), Prem Kumar (Gaya City), Virendra Singh (Wazirganj), Kanhaiya Kumar ( Rajauli), Anil Singh (Hisua), Aruna Deiv (Warisaliganj) and Shreyasi Singh (Jamui).
All the candidates are for the election’s first phase in which 71 seats of the 243-member assembly will go to polls. The list came hours after the ruling NDA announced its seat-sharing formula under which JD(U) will contest on 122 seats and BJP 121 out of a total of 243 seats.
Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi in a press conference today asserted “we have said unequivocally that Nitish Kumar will be our Chief Minister. It does not matter which party gets how many seats in the elections”.
The list of candidates comes days after the BJP central election committee held a meeting in Delhi deliberating and finalising the party’s candidates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president J P Nadda and other top party leaders attended the meeting.