Patna, Sep 14: The political contest for eight seats in the Bihar Legislative Council is set to intensify with the Jan Suraj Party preparing to enter the fray, while the RJD has announced six candidates and the JDU is likely to field four nominees.
The Prashant Kishore-led Jan Suraj Party has fixed September 20 for announcing its candidates, a move that could turn several seats into multi-cornered contests.
The RJD announced its candidates for six seats on September 11. Dr Sanjeev Kumar Singh has been fielded from Patna Teachers, Dilip Kumar from Patna Graduates, Nitesh Kumar from Kosi Graduates, Anil Kumar Jha from Darbhanga Graduates, Prof Jairam Yadav from Saran Teachers and Dr Rashmi Vinayak Gautam from Tirhut Graduates.
The RJD is yet to announce candidates for the Tirhut Teachers and Darbhanga Teachers constituencies.
Meanwhile, four names are reportedly almost finalised by the JDU. Neeraj Kumar is likely to contest from Patna Graduates, Abhishek Jha from Tirhut Graduates, Pushkar Anand from Saran Teachers and Dilip Chaudhary from Darbhanga Teachers. A formal announcement from the party is awaited.
The Patna Graduates constituency is already attracting attention, with a likely contest between RJD’s Dilip Kumar and JDU’s Neeraj Kumar. If Jan Suraj fields Dr Divya Jyoti, the seat could witness a three-way battle. The name of Anuj Kumar is also being discussed as a possible contender.
For Jan Suraj, the MLC elections could prove an important test of its ability to expand its political base among graduate and teacher voters. The party is reportedly focusing on candidates with a strong presence in these professional constituencies.
Jan Suraj has also raised concerns over alleged irregularities in the electoral rolls, claiming that 1,668 duplicate names have been detected. The party has said it will approach the Election Commission over the issue and claimed that the commission has assured that discrepancies will be corrected in the final voter list.
The BJP has not yet disclosed its candidates, leaving some uncertainty over the final electoral equations.
With Jan Suraj scheduled to announce its nominees on September 20, the contest is expected to become clearer, particularly on whether the traditional NDA-versus-Grand Alliance equation will turn into a multi-cornered battle in the Council elections.
