BJP declared its first list of 58 candidates for the forthcoming Jharkhand assembly elections and said the remaining names would be finalised after details of seat-sharing with ally JD (U) are completed.
"The BJP Central Election Committee finalised candidates for 58 seats today. Of these, seven are women, 22 from Scheduled Tribe and seven from Scheduled Caste," Secretary, BJP CEC, Ananth Kumar said.
Three sitting MLAs have been denied tickets from their present constituencies due to delimitation.
Earlier, senior leaders of BJP and JD(U) held a meeting here to discuss seat sharing for Jharkhand.
However, the talks were inconclusive as JD(U) is demanding around 18 seats in the 81-member assembly. BJP is willing to give around 9-11 seats, sources said.
Candidates announced by BJP include its state unit President Raghubar Das (Jamshedpur East), Saryu Rai (Jamshedpur West), Chandreshwar Prasad Singh (Ranchi), Mahendra Bhagat (Kolebira-ST). Kunti Singh, wife of late Surajdeo Singh will contest on BJP ticket from Jharia. Ramchandra Baitha (Kanke-SC), Lues Marandi and Vijay Sav (Kodarma) and Devdayal Kushwaha (Hazaribagh) are other prominent candidates. Marandi is contesting against Stephen Marandi (former Deputy Chief Minister) of Congress. PTI
