55 file nominations for by-polls to one Lok Sabha and five

Filing of nomination papers ended on Monday for by-elections to one Lok Sabha seat and five assembly constituencies in Bihar with a total of 55 candidates entering into the fray for the six seats.

The seats have fallen vacant upon the death of sitting Samastipur MP Ram Chandra Paswan and election of JD(U) MLAs from Daraunda, Belhar, Simari Bakhtiarpur and Nathnagar and the Congress legislator from Kishanganj to the Lok Sabha.

Prince Raj filed his nomination papers on the LJP ticket from Samastipur (reserved) seat which he would seek to retain for the party which his father younger brother of party chief and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan had won for the second consecutive term in the general elections.

His principal challenger is Ashok Ram of the Congress, who had finished the runner-up in the general elections this year as well as the one held in 2014.

The BJP has thrown his hat in the ring from Kishanganj, a Muslim dominated seat falling under the Lok Sabha constituency of the same name.

The party has reposed its trust in Sweeti Singh, a 37- year-old who had finished the runner-up in the 2015 assembly polls.

The Congress has placed its bets on 72-year-old Sayeeda Banu whose son Mohd Jawed won the seat for the party in the assembly polls and vacated it upon being elected to the Lok Sabha.

Grand Alliance partners seem to be heading for a fight among themselves in Nathnagar and Simari Bakhtiarpur where candidates have been fielded by Jitan Ram Manjhis HAM and Mukesh Sahnis VIP respectively despite Lalu Prasads RJD
In Daraunda, JD(U) headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar