Bhojpuri singer and actor Pawan Singh announced to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Bihar's Karakat seat. He will be contesting the poll at the seat against Rashtriya Lok Morcha's chief and NDA candidate Upendra Kushwaha. This comes a month after Singh had declined to contest the polls from West Bengal's Asansol constituency. He was initially named in the BJP's first list of candidates for the upcoming general elections.
Why Singh declined to contest from Asansol?
Though he had not specified the reason behind his decision to not contest from Asansol, his candidature had drawn criticism from the TMC, which alleged that some of his songs were crude and depicted women, including those from Bengal, in a vulgar way. He was put up by the BJP against actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, the Trinamool Congress MP from Asansol in the outgoing Lok Sabha.
However, the Bhojpuri star had asserted that he would fight the polls to honour the promise he made to his mother. "I will fight the elections to fulfil the promise I made to my mother, my society and the people," Singh wrote on his X handle last month.
NDA seat-sharing in Bihar
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders in Bihar announced seat-sharing in the state on March 18. The BJP will contest 17 Lok Sabha seats, JD(U) 16, LJP(Ram Vilas) five, Hindustani Awam Morcha and Rashtriya Lok Morcha on one seat each. 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.
Bihar to vote in all seven phases of the Lok Sabha elections:
- 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
