JDU Releases Final Candidate List for Bihar Elections, Fields 44 Nominees Amid NDA Seat-Sharing Tensions

Patna: As seat-sharing discussions within Bihar’s ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) continue to face hurdles, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) on Thursday announced its final roster of 44 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections.

This announcement follows Wednesday’s release of an initial list of 57 candidates, which included nominations for four constituencies contested by Chirag Paswan, signaling the JDU’s determination to secure these seats despite ongoing intra-alliance negotiations.

Among the prominent names in the final list are Minister Sumit Singh, who had previously won the Chakai seat as an independent, Jama Khan from Chainpur, Jayant Raj from Amarpur, and Lesy Singh from Dhamdaha. Notably, Gopal Mandal’s ticket has been withdrawn.

The candidate list reflects a broad representation across communities: 37 from the Other Backward Classes (OBC), 22 from the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC), 22 from the General category, 15 Scheduled Castes (SC), and 1 Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidate. The party has also fielded four Muslim candidates.

The 243-member Bihar Assembly elections are scheduled in two phases, with polling on November 6 and 11, and counting set for November 14.