Lok Sabha Elections 2024: With the first phase of the upcoming Lok Sabha election less than a month away, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), an ally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has announced a list of 16 candidates in Bihar, in accordance with the seat-sharing agreement within the alliance. The party has dropped two sitting MPs and fielded two turncoats.
The announcement was made here by the party's national vice president Vashishth Narayan Singh in the presence of several other senior JD(U) leaders.
The seats where sitting MPs have been dropped are Sitamarhi, where legislative council chairman Devesh Chandra Thakur will be the JD(U) candidate, and Siwan, where Vijay Laxmi Kushwaha got the ticket just a day after she joined the party along with husband Ramesh Singh Kushwaha who was the state president of Rashtriya Lok Morcha, an NDA ally.
Another turncoat to have got the party ticket is Lovely Anand, who had quit the RJD to join the JD(U) earlier this month. She will be contesting the polls from Sheohar.
Here's list of 16 candidates
- Shivhar: Lovely Anand
- Sitamarhi: Devesh Chandra Thakur
- Valmikinagar: Sunil Mahato
- Supaul: Dileshwar Kamat
- Madhepura: Dinesh Chandra Yadav
- Jehanabad: Chandeshwar Prasad
- Siwan: Vijayalakshmi Devi
- Gopalganj: Alok Suman
- Purnia: Santosh Kushwaha
- Kishanganj: Master Mujahid Alam
- Katihar: Dulalchand Goswami
- Munger:Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh
- Banka: Girdhari Yadav
- Bhagalpur: Ajay Mandal
- Nalanda: Kaushalendra Kumar
- Jhanjharpur: Rampreet Mandal
(Most of the candidates were repeated, new candidates only in Siwan, Sitamarhi, Shivhar, and Kishanganj)
List of constituencies to be contested by BJP, JDU, LJP, HAM and RLM
The NDA announced seat-sharing in Bihar ahead of high-voltage Lok Sabha elections. BJP leader Vinod Tawde announced that the BJP will be contesting in 17 Lok Sabha seats, while JD(U) will contest in 16 seats, and LJP (Ram Vilas) in five seats. Additionally, two other parties will contest in one seat each, with Hindustani Awam Morcha and Rashtriya Lok Morcha each contesting in one seat.
The Bharatiya Janata Party to contest 17 seats including Paschim Champaran, Purvi Champaran, Aurangabad, Madhubani, Araria, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Maharajganj, Saran, Ujiarpur, Begusarai, Nawada, Patna Sahib, Pataliputra, Arrah, Buxar and Sasaram. Meanwhile, the BJP decided to leave Sheohar for the JDU. The LJP also parted ways with Nawada for the BJP. The JDU left Gaya and Karakat for the HAM and the RLM respectively.
The Janata Dal-United to contest 16 seats including Valmiki Nagar, Sitamarhi, Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, Madhepura, Gopalganj, Siwan, Bhagalpur, Banka, Munger, Nalanda, Jahanabad and Sheohar.
The Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) to contest 5 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar including Vaishali, Hajipur, Samastipur, Khagaria and Jamui. The Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) to contest only the Gaya seat while Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) will fight the Karakat seat.
Voting in Bihar to take place in 7 phases
Bihar will head to polls in all seven phases of the polling of votes in the Lok Sabha elections. Here is a list of constituencies that will head to polls in phases:
- Phase 1: Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada and Jamui.
- Phase 2: Kishanganj, Banka, Bhagalpur, Purnia and Katihar
- Phase 3: Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Araria, Madhepura and Khagaria
- Phase 4: Darbhanga, Ujiarpur, Samastipur, Begusarai and Munger
- Phase 5: Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saran and Hajipur
- Phase 6: Valmiki Nagar, Paschim Champaran, Purvi Champaran, Sheohar, Vaishali, Gopalganj, Siwan and Maharajganj
- Phase 7: Nalanda, Patana Sahib, Pataliputra, Arrah, Buxar, Sasaram, Karakat and Jahanabad
