LJP announces first list of 12 candidates for Bihar polls

The party said there was a consensus with BJP and other NDA allies on 29 of the 40 seats, which it was alloted

Days after sulking over seat- sharing formulae, NDA ally LJP today declared its first list of 12 candidates for Bihar polls, which has names of Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan's brother and nephew.

The Union Minister's brother Pashupati Kumar Paras, who is the Bihar state chief of the party, has been fielded from the reserved Alouli assembly seat.

Prince Raj, the son of LJP chief's brother and Lok Sabha MP Ram Chandra Paswan, makes his debut from another reserved constituencey Kalyanpur.

Declaring the first list, LJP Parliamentary Board chairman Chirag Paswan said there was a consensus with BJP and other NDA allies on 29 of the 40 seats, which it was alloted while talks are still on to finalize 11 other seats which his party will contest.

The party's candidate from Gobindganj seat is Raju Tiwari, brother of former legislator Rajan Tiwari, who faces several criminal cases.

The seats for which candidates were declared today are spread over different phases of elections.

The other seats on which candidates have been declared are Ramesh Singh from Vibhutipur, Anil Chaudhary from Cheria Beriarpur, Subash Chandra Bose from Sikandara, Engineer Himanshu Kumar from Jamaalpur, Amar Kushwaha from Nathnagar, Satendra Singh from Fatuha, Vijay Paswan from Triveniganj, Sarita Paswan from Sonvarsha and Yusuf Khan from Simri Bakhtiyarpur.

On Tuesday, Chirag had voiced discontent over the seat- sharing formula. He had also said that he expressed his party's concerns to BJP chief Amit Shah but made it clear that LJP will continue in the NDA.

Shah had on Monday announced a seat-sharing formula for Bihar assembly elections under which BJP will contest 160 of the state's 243 seats, LJP 40, RLSP 23 and HAM 20.

"There was no anger but discontent as there was a difference between the seat-sharing formula we were told about earlier and what was announced. So we were taken aback.

"We were not angry but definitely there were concerns in the party. We were shocked. There is no smoke without fire," Chirag had said.

There was a feeling in the party that Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) of former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and RLSP of Union minister Upendra Kushwaha had got a "better deal" which was disproportionate to their political strength in the state.