Bihar alliance names 242 poll candidates

IANS/Patna/New DelhiThe grand alliance of the Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress yesterday released the first list for Bihar elections in Bihar, naming all but one candidate for the state’s 243 assembly constituencies, while seeking to balance caste equations in view of their support base.According to a press release issued by the alliance, 55% of the 242 candidates belong to Other Backward Classes and Economically Backward Classes, 16% are from Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, 14% are Muslim, and the rest from general or upper castes. About 10% of the candidates are women.Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar along with RJD state president Ram Chandra Purve and state Congress president Ashok Choudhary announced the list at a joint press conference here. The JD-U and RJD are contesting 101 seats each and the remaining 41 going to the Congress.“We have tried to ensure representation to all sections of society. There are no complaints within the grand alliance over the names of candidates and seat adjustments,” he said.Nitish Kumar has made it clear that development was the main agenda for the polls while the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance was only interested in creating divisions on the basis of religion and caste.In New Delhi, the Congress released its list of 41 candidates, which has a sizeable representation of Muslims.The list released by party general secretary Madhusudan Mistry contains 10 Muslim candidates.The party has fielded eight candidates in the first phase of Bihar polls, six in the second phase, seven in the third, eight in the fourth and 12 in the fifth phase.Meanwhile hundreds of angry BJP and JD-U workers protested at their party offices here after their leaders were denied tickets to contest the elections.A group of BJP members turned violent and broke the main gate of the party office and tried to ransack a room, police said.Another set of BJP activists from Karakat constituency staged a protest at the same venue to express their displeasure over the denial of ticket to their leader.Dozens of party workers from Bhagalpur, Ashthawan, Kuchaikot and Behrampur seats also shouted slogans against the BJP leadership.The BJP has so far declared candidates in 153 of the 160 assembly seats it will contest.The party is facing a rebellion after it denied tickets to over half-a-dozen outgoing legislators including former ministers Chandra Mohan Rai and Shukhda Pandey.Similarly, dozens of furious JD-U workers protested in front of their party office here after the chief minister released the list.Supporters of Bihar Health Minister Ram Dhani Singh demanded to know why he had not been fielded. “This is wrong,” said one supporter. Earlier, disgruntled RJD workers demonstrated in front of their leader Lalu Prasad Yadav’s bungalow.Polling will be held in Bihar between October 12 and November 5. Counting of votes will be taken up on November 8.l Lalu Prasad Yadav’s two sons, Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejaswi Yadav, will contest the polls.Elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, 27, will contest from Mahua and Tejaswi Yadav, 25, from Raghopur.Mahua and Raghopur are adjacent constituencies in Vaishali district, not far from Patna. Vaishali is considered a RJD stronghold. Lalu Prasad and his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi won several elections between 1995 and 2010 from Raghopur.Tejaswi Yadav, a cricketer-turned-politician, is a popular face of the party. He recently attended a rally with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in West Champaran district.The BJP has fielded Satish Kumar Yadav, who joined the party hours before he was declared its candidate, in Raghopur.