The Congress on Wednesday (October 7) released the first list of 21 candidates for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections. The party is contesting the polls in alliance with the RJD and the Left parties, including the CPI-ML and the CPI.
In the list, there is no minority candidate while four scheduled caste candidates have been given tickets from Rajpur, Sikandra, Kutumba, and Chenari.
The list includes Subhanand Mukesh from Kahalgaon, Lalan Yadav from Sultanganj, Gajanand Shahi from Barabigha, Vishwanath Ram from Rajpur SC, Sumant Kumar from Tikari.
The process of ticket distribution has irked many leaders and workers in the party as they have been protesting at the AICC office for the last two days. Muslim leaders are reportedly upset with less representation of the community.
The minority leaders told IANS that in 2015 the party nominated 10 candidates in the 41 seats which it contested, and now when it is contesting on 70 seats, minorities are being ignored.
Congress releases first list of 21 candidates
1. Shubhanand Mukesh from Kahalgaon (155 AC)
2. Lallan Yadav from Sultanganj (157 AC)
3. Jitendra Singh from Amarpur (159 AC)
4. Dr Ajay Kumar Singh from Jamalpur (166 AC)
5. Amansh Kumar (Anish) from Lakhisarai (168 AC)
6. Gajanand Shahi alias Munna Shah from Barbigha (170 AC)
7. Satyendra Bahadur from Barh (179 AC)
8. Siddharth Saurav from Bikram (191 AC)
9. Sanjay Kumar Tiwai alias Munna Tiwari from Buxar (200 AC)
10. Vishwanath Ram from Rajpur – SC (202 AC)
11. Prakash Kumar Singh from Chainpur (206 AC)
12. Murari Prasad Gautam from Chenari – SC (207 AC)
13. Santosh Kumar Mishra from Kargahar (209 AC)
14. Rajesh Kumar from Kutumba – SC (222 AC)
15. Anand Shankar Singh from Aurangabad (223 AC)
16. Akhauri Onkar Nath from Gaya Town (230 AC)
17. Sumant Kumar from Tikari (231 AC)
18. Shashi Shekhar Singh from Wazirganj (234 AC)
19. Smt Nitu Kumari from Hisua (236 AC)
20. Satish Kumar “Mantan Singh” from Warsalganj (239 AC)
21. Sudhir Kumar alias Bunty Choudhary from Sikandra – SC (240 AC)
Notably, elections to the 243-seat Bihar assembly will be held in three phases on October 28, November 3, and November 7, while the counting of votes will take place on November 10.