Bihar polls: BJP releases list of 43 candidates, 5 sitting MLAs denied tickets

NEW DELHI: The BJP central election committee (CEC) today evening finalized 34 candidates from among 81 seats going to polls in the first two phase -- October 12 and October 16 -- along with nine more candidates from other phases. Thus, BJP announced a total of 43 candidates.

The ticket announcements indicated that it has renominated 15 of 22 sitting party MLAs from these two phases. According to the list of candidates released by the party it appeared that party has denied renomination of BJP MLAs from five different assembly segments -- Teghra, Pirpainti, Katoria, Rajauli, and Gurua --- that they had won in 2010 assembly segments.

The list announced today included 19 candidates from the first phase while 15 candidates from the second phase. Nine additional candidates from other phases were announced as well.

Among the list of nine candidates from other phases, the party has renominated prominent sitting MLAs, including leader of opposition in state assembly Nand Kishore Yadav, party's national vice-president Rendu Devi among others. This list of nine candidates, sources suggested, was aimed to incorporate names of prominent MLAs from different social groups to signal prominent social groups of BJP's special consideration for the leader of those communities.