Lok Sabha polls: Bihar NDA candidate list throws in a big surprise

bjp-bihar-candidates BJP's Bihar in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Bhupendra Yadav with party state president Nityanand Rai, JD(U) state president Vashisht Narayan and LJP state president Pashupati Paras show the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) candidates list for upcoming Lok Sabha election 2019 in Patna | PTI

IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Patna Saheb constituency, replacing the dissident outgoing MP Shatrughan Sinha. Prasad's name figured in the list released by the NDA leaders in Patna on Saturday. As BJP MP Kirti Azad had joined Congress, the saffron party has given ticket to Gopalji Thakur, state party vice-president.

A big surprise has come in the form of former MP and party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain being denied a ticket from Bhagalpur, and instead the ticket has gone to BJP ally Janata Dal (United) candidate Ajay Kumar Mandal. The JD(U) has also given ticket to lone Muslim candidate from NDA from Kishanganj, Mahmood Ashraf.

Among the other changes, Union minister Giriraj Singh has been allotted ticket from Begusarai. He had earlier won from Nawada seat which has now gone to party ally LJP. Singh will face CPI candidate and former JNU president Kanhaiya Kumar. Even the RJD-Congress alliance has not left the seat for the CPI.

Hukum Narayan Yadav, the veteran BJP MP who turned 79, has bowed out of election, keeping in line with the party tradition of leaders who are over the age of 75 abstaining from contesting elections. His son, Ashok Yadav, has been given the ticket.

The other prominent leaders who will contest from Bihar include Rajiv Pratap Rudy (Saran), Chirag Paswan (Jamui), Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav from Pataliputra, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh from Champaran East, and Ashwani Chaube from Buxar.

Bihar will witness a direct contest between the grand alliance and the NDA. The grand alliance has RJD contesting in 20 seats, Congress in nine, and the remaining seats have been given to Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP), Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha and Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP.

While the BJP has given most of the tickets to the upper caste candidates, the JD(U) has relied on its votebank of OBCs and dalits.