JD(U) announces 16 Lok Sabha candidates in Bihar; EBCs, OBCs get most seats

The Janata Dal-United (JD-U) on Sunday released the list of all its 16 candidates in Bihar for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the first one after the caste survey, with most seats given to extremely backward classes (EBCs) and backward classes (OBCs).

The list was released by the senior JD-U leaders including the party’s national vice president Vashishta Narayan Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Jha.

Jha said that 12 seats were given to sitting MPs, while four seats were given to new faces.

Eleven seats have been given to the extremely backward classes and backward classes, while one seat has been given to a minority candidate and one to a Mahadalit. There are two women in the list. The Upper caste has got three seats.

Among the new faces is Vijaylakshmi Kushwaha, who joined the JD-U just a day ago, who has been given a ticket from Siwan, replacing sitting MP Kavitha Singh. Vijayalakshmi Kushwaha was earlier with the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, an ally of the NDA.

The second new face is former MP Lovely Anand, who has been fielded from Sheohar, which the JD-U got this time as part of the seat-sharing pact.

The party has fielded Bihar Legislative Council chairman Devesh Chandra Thakur from Sitamarhi, replacing sitting MP Sunil Kumar Pintu.

It has fielded Mujahid Alam from Kishanganj, which was the only seat the party had lost in 2019 to the Congress. Last time, the JD-U’s Mehmood Ashraf had lost to Md Javed of the Congress by over 34,000 votes. Alam had earlier won the Assembly election in 2014 from Kochadhama seat, but lost in 2020.

As part of the seat-sharing arrangement in the NDA, the BJP would contest 17 seats, the JD-U 16, the LJP-R of Chirag Paswan five and the HAM-S of former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi and the RLM of former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha one each.

“Everything is smooth in the NDA and we are in touch with the BJP for better coordination to ensure that all Lok Sabha seats come to our kitty,” said Sanjay Jha after announcing the JD-U’s candidate list.

The JD-U’s alliance partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is expected to announce the candidates for its 17 seats late evening.