Bihar MLC polls: Jan Suraaj Party changes candidate for Tirhut Teachers' seat

Patna: The Jan Suraaj Party on Saturday announced Shyam Nandan Yadav as its candidate for the Tirhut Teachers' constituency in the upcoming Bihar Legislative Council polls, replacing Bhushan Jha, who will contest as an Independent.

Addressing a press conference to announce the change in candidature, the Prashant Kishor-led party's national spokesperson Kumar Saurabh said Yadav, who hails from Muzaffarpur district, joined the outfit yesterday.

Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) state president Manoj Bharti told reporters that the new candidate belongs to a family of servicemen, with one of his brothers having laid down his life in the 1999 Kargil War.


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"Yadav is also extremely popular among the teachers' community. He is involved in the teaching profession and is the state secretary of the association of teachers' training colleges in Bihar," he said.

Asked why Bhushan Jha, whose candidature was announced two days ago, claims that he has "returned" the ticket for not being allowed to speak his mind and shall contest as an Independent, JSP senior leader Rambali Chandravanshi said, "All our candidates are selected transparently and democratically. There is scope for replacing a candidate if there is negative feedback."

"Jha calls himself a teacher despite not having even done his masters. He is just a BCom. Moreover, after getting the ticket, he attended a party meeting in Muzaffarpur where people took strong exception to some of his utterances. Hence it was decided that the candidate be changed," he said.

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Polls for eight seats in the Upper House of the bicameral Bihar legislature are scheduled on October 23. The terms of these four graduates' and as many teachers' seats are set to expire on November 16.

Jan Suraaj Party is contesting all eight seats.

It has fielded Anuj Singh in the Patna Graduate constituency and Vimohan Kumar in the Tirhut Graduate constituency. Afaq Ahmed, who won Saran teachers' constituency in 2020 with Prashant Kishor's support, is seeking re-election as the party's official candidate.

Academician-turned-politician Divya Jyoti has been fielded in Patna teachers' constituency; S P Rai in Darbhanga teachers' constituency; Ravindra Yadav in Darbhanga graduates' seat and Rajnish Ranjan in Kosi graduates' constituency.

For graduates' constituencies, individuals who hold a graduation degree from any recognised university in India and reside within the specific graduate constituency are eligible to vote. In teachers' constituencies, those working in educational institutions within the state that are not lower than secondary schools and possess at least three years of teaching experience are eligible to vote.

In both cases, eligible voters must explicitly register themselves on the electoral rolls maintained for the purpose.

A notification for the polls will be issued on September 29, while the last date for filing nominations is October 6. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on October 7, and candidates can withdraw their nominations till October 9.

Polling will be held from 8 am to 4 pm on October 23, and counting of votes is scheduled for October 27.