Patna: BJP announced its four candidates from its NDA quota for the Oct 23 legislative council election to eight seats across Graduates’ and Teachers’ constituencies in Bihar. Oct 6 is the last date for filing nominations and Oct 9 for withdrawal. Results will be declared on Oct 27. RJD candidate Sanjeev Kumar filed his nomination from the Patna Teachers’ constituency on Tuesday, the first day of filing.The BJP candidates include incumbent MLCs Prof Naval Kishore Yadav from Patna Teachers’ and Dr N K Yadav from Kosi Graduates. Sarvesh Kumar, who had rebelled against the party and won as an independent after being denied a ticket last time, will contest from Darbhanga Graduates on a BJP ticket this time.Narendra Prasad Singh has been named BJP nominee for Tirhut Teachers. He had earlier contested from Kosi Teachers. Thus, BJP has renominated three candidates.JD(U) has already named sitting MLCs Neeraj Kumar from Patna Graduates, Ghanshyam Rai from Darbhanga Graduates, Abhishek Jha from Tirhut Graduates and Anand Pushkar from Saran Teachers’.Jan Suraaj, led by Bankipur MLA Prashant Kishor, is contesting all eight seats. It has fielded Anuj Singh from Patna Graduates, Mohd Imteyaz (Noorani) from Darbhanga Graduates, Afaque Ahmad from Saran Teachers, Rajnish Ranjan from Kosi Graduates, Dr Vimohan from Tirhut Graduates and Shyam Nandan Yadav from Tirhut Teachers.The RJD-led Mahagathbandhan candidates include Sanjeev Kumar (Patna Teachers), Dilip Kumar (Patna Graduates), Nitesh Kumar (Kosi Graduates), Anil Kumar Jha (Darbhanga Graduates), Jairam Yadav (Saran Teachers) and Dr Rashmi Vinayak Gautam (Tirhut Graduates).The Patna Graduates’ seat is in focus as Mokama JD(U) MLA Anant Singh is supporting Jan Suraaj candidate Anuj Singh against his party’s nominee Neeraj Kumar. With BJP’s announcement, the electoral lineup for all eight seats is now clear.
