LJP announces 12 candidates in first Bihar poll list

The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) on Friday released first list of 12 candidates, including three members of party chief and union minister Ram Vilas Paswan's family, for the Bihar assembly polls.

"LJP parliamentary board has finalised candidates for 29 seats but we are releasing the first list of 12 candidates on which we got clearance from all the allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)," LJP MP Chirag Paswan said at a press conference here.

LJP's Bihar unit chief and Ram Vilas Paswan's brother Pashupati Kumar Paras will fight from Alauli assembly constituency whereas another Paswan family member Prince Raj has been fielded from Kalyanpur assembly constituency. Raj is the son of LJP MP Ram Chander Paswan, a brother of the union minister.

One more kin of Paswan, Sarita Paswan was given ticket from Sonbarsha assembly constituency. She is the wife of Paswan's nephew.

Raju Tiwari, a brother of former LJP legislator Rajan Tiwary, was fielded from Govindganj.

All key posts of the LJP, from state unit president to parliamentary board chairman, are occupied by Paswan's kin, who include his younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras and his son Chirag Paswan.

The list also included names of leaders like Ramesh Singh from Vibhutipur assembly segment, Anil Choudhary from Cheriya Bariarpur, Subhash Chandra Bose from Sikandara (SC), Engineer Himanshu Raj from Jamalpur, Satendra Singh from Fatuha, Vijay Paswan from Triveniganj (SC) and Md. Yusuf Khan from Simri Bakhtiyarpur.

Among NDA partners, the BJP will contest in 160 seats, the LJP in 40, Hindustani Awam Morcha in 20 and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party in 23.

Bihar will hold five-phase elections between October 12 to November 5 to elect the 243-member assembly. Counting of votes will take place on November 8.

The notification for the first phase of polls was issued on Wednesday.