Cong nominees for Bihar, Maharashtra bypolls

Congress has fielded late RJD MP Umashankar Singh's son Jitendra Swami for the June 2 Lok Sabha bye-election in Maharajganj in Bihar, a seat earlier held by his father.
The seat fell vacant ater the death of the 72-year-old RJD leader in January.
A five-time MLA, Umashankar Singh was MP from Maharajganj in 2009 and was one of the four MPs of Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal.
RJD is likely to field former JD(U) leader Prabhunath Singh while JD-U is likely to put up HRD minister P K Shahi from Maharajganj.
Both RJD and JD-U are treating this bye-election as a prestige issue. The candidature of Swami could turn the contest into a triangular affair as his father had been a veteran leader there.

In another decision, the party announced the candidature of Deshmukh Parvekar Nandini Nilesh as its candidate for the assembly bye-election for Yavatmal seat in Maharashtra.
The seat fell vacant following the death of MLA Nilesh Deshmukh. Nandini Nilesh is his wife.