Nitish Kumar-Led JD(U) Releases First List Of 57 Candidates For Bihar Polls Days After NDA Finalises Seat-Sharing

The Janata Dal (United) today (15 October) released its first list of 57 candidates for the upcoming Bihar assembly election, with party president and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar approving the nominations.

The announcement comes days after the National Democratic Alliance finalised seat-sharing arrangements ahead of the two-phase polling scheduled for 6 and 11 November.

The candidate list includes several prominent leaders, with JDU state chief Umesh Khushwaha fielded from Mahanar and Rural Development Minister Shravan Kumar from Nalanda.

Other notable candidates include Ratnesh Sada from Sonbarsa, Vidyasagar Nishad from Morwa, Dhumal Singh from Ekma, and Kaushal Kishore from Rajgir. The party has also nominated Anant Kumar Singh for Mokama and Shyam Rajak for Phulwari.

The list notably covers candidates for four seats claimed by Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).

The NDA had earlier agreed that both BJP and JDU would contest 101 seats each, while LJP was allocated 29 constituencies.

JDU national spokesperson Sanjay Kumar Jha announced that the party's second list of candidates will be made public in the coming days.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is scheduled to formally launch the party's election campaign on Thursday.

Jha also remarked that the opposition Mahagathbandhan continues to struggle with finalising its seat-sharing arrangement, indicating internal discord within the alliance.