In a major setback for Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), party's women's wing state president Ritu Jaiswal has filed her nomination on Monday as an independent candidate from the Parihar constituency for the crucial assembly elections in Bihar. Launching a rebellion against the party, Jaiswal said she was denied a ticket and has called it a 'betrayal' by the RJD leadership.
"I am going to file nomination papers tomorrow as an Independent candidate. The party has signalled that it was willing to accommodate me in another constituency. But that would be a deal against my conscience," Jaiswal, 48-year-old, said on Sunday.
Who is Ritu Jaiswal?
Born on March 1, 1977, in Hajipur, Jaiswal is the wife of former civil servant Arun Kumar. Kumar had taken voluntary retirement (VRS) in order to 'serve' his village and provides free coaching to students in the state. Jaiswal, meanwhile, is prominent leader in Bihar's politics, and has often raised concerns over education, infrastructure and other issues.
Because of her work at the panchayat level, she is popularly known as 'mukhiya didi'.
She has contested the elections twice. In the 2020 Bihar assembly elections, she contested from the Parihar seat, but lost to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Gayatri Devi by a margin of just 1,569 votes. She also unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from the Sheohar constituency, where she had lost to Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Lovely Anand by a margin of less than 30,000 votes.
Though she lost the elections, she had gained massive support on the ground.
Why she was denied a ticket in 2025 Bihar polls?
Jaiswal, daughter-in-law of former RJD Bihar president Ram Chandra Purve, has blamed the party leadership that she was denied a ticket despite losing the 2020 Bihar polls by less than 2,000 votes. It must be noted that the RJD has not issued a statement on why Jaiswal was fielded by it from the Parihar seat.
While filing her nomination on Monday, Jaiswal became extremely emotional and said that she was a victim of a political conspiracy. Notably, Jaiswal was offered to contest from Belsand assembly constituency, but she insisted that she will fight from Parihar.
