Patna: After much speculations over seat sharing in Bihar, the Mahagathbandhan on Friday announced its list of 38 candidates out of 40 seats for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The candidates for the remaining two seats – Sheohar (RJD) and Madhubani (Vikasheel Insaan Party) will be announced later.
Bihar mahagathbandhan releases seat-sharing agreement for 40 Lok Sabha seats. RJD to contest on 19 seats, Congress on 9 seats, RLSP on 5 seats, HAM(S) on 3 seats, VIP on 3 seats and CPI(ML) on 1 seat. pic.twitter.com/leJ9DhHUGS
— ANI (@ANI) March 29, 2019
Announcing the list in Patna, RJD leader and Lalu’s son Tejashwi Yadav said that the Patna Sahib seat has been allotted to the Congress which means that rebel BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha and also a sitting MP is likely to contest from the constituency against BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The actor-turned-politician Sinha, who has been miffed with the BJP after it decided to field Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib, is likely to officially join the Congress next week.
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Besides, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s eldest daughter Misa Bharti will be contesting from Pataliputra, while elder son Tej Pratap Yadav’s father-in-law Chandrika Rai has been fielded from Saran.
Besides, the Congress has declared names of candidates from Kishanganj (Mohammed Javed), Katihar (Tariq Anwar), Purnia (Uday Singh), Sasaram (Meira Kumar), Munger (Neelam Devi), Supaul (Ranjeet Ranjan) and Samastipur (Dr Ashok Kumar). However, it will announce names of candidates on Patna Sahib and Valmikinagar seats later.
As per the seat sharing agreement of the grand alliance, the RJD will contest on 19 seats and Congress on 9. While Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP has been given 5 seats. Former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM (S) got 3 seats. While VIP, another party of the alliance, will contest on 3 seats, and CPI(M) got only one seat – Ara – from RJD’s quota.
Bihar will go to poll in all seven phases on April 11, 18, 23, 29 and May 6, 12 and 19. The results will be announced on May 23.