Bihar elections: RJD asks candidates to return tickets within hours, citing ‘technical issues’

Several candidates who received party tickets from Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav were asked to return them within hours, citing “technical problems”.

The drama unfolded on Monday (October 13) after Lalu Prasad distributed party tickets to several candidates until his son and party chief Tejashwi Yadav pointed out that the INDIA bloc was yet to officially announce a seat-sharing formula.

A stampede-like situation was witnessed outside 10, Circular Road, the bungalow allotted to RJD supreme leader Rabri Devi’s wife, when the couple returned from Delhi after appearing before a court in the IRCTC hotels scam case.

Several candidates received phone calls from the party and left a few minutes later with the party symbol in their hand and a big smile on their face.

The situation changed after Tejashwi, who returned from Delhi, was reportedly unhappy with the developments. According to reports, Tejashwi told his father that photographs and video clips of party candidates displaying the symbol could not go down well with the alliance partners, with whom an agreement was yet to be reached.

The distribution of party symbols was halted and those who had received them were asked to return the tickets, citing “technical problems”.

Among those who got the RJD symbols are Sunil Singh (Parbatta), who left Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) last week, and Narendra Kumar Singh alias Bogo, a former multi-term MP from Matihani, who had won the seat twice for the CM-led party.

Several sitting RJD MLAs like Bhai Virendra, Chandrashekhar Yadav (Madhepura) and Israil Mansuri (Kanti) had also come out of the party chief’s house, brandishing the party symbol.