Bihar polls: Jan Suraaj releases second list of 65 candidates, Prashant Kishor’s name missing

The Jan Suraaj Party on Monday (October 13) published its second list of 65 candidates for the legislative elections in Bihar. The name of the party’s founder, Prashant Kishor, is not on the list.

He hinted at contesting from Raghopura constituency, where Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav is eyeing a hat-trick.

Addressing a press conference, Kishor said that with this, the party has nominated candidates for a total of 116 seats.

“In the first list, we had announced candidates for 51 seats, and in the second list, we nominated candidates for 65 seats. Candidates for the remaining seats will be announced later,” he said.

Kishor said that among the candidates announced so far, 31 were from extremely weak sections, 21 from other backward classes and 21 were Muslims.

The party has fielded Kamlesh Paswan from Harnaut, a seat long considered CM Nitish Kumar’s stronghold, although he has not contested a parliamentary election there in three decades.

The party named 51 candidates in the first list published on October 9. Among the candidates are Bhojpuri singer Ritesh Pandey, former IPS officer RK Mishra and Jagriti Thakur, granddaughter of legendary socialist leader, late Karpoori Thakur.

The election of the 243 members of the Assembly will take place on November 6 and 11, while the counting of votes will take place on November 14.