Bihar assembly elections 2025: BJP releases first list of 71 candidates
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday released the first list of 71 candidates for the two-phased Bihar assembly elections on November 6 and 11.
The party, however, denied tickets to three sitting MLAs, including assembly Speaker and seven time MLA from Patna Sahib, Nand Kishore Yadav, and changed candidates on 15 seats. Nearly 53 candidates have been retained in the first list.
The second list of 30 candidates will be released soon, party office bearers said.
Deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary, who is a member of the legislative council, will contest from Tarapur, while another deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha has been retained from Lakhisarai. Sitting MLC and Nitish Kumar-led NDA cabinet member Mangal Pandey will be contesting from the Siwan seat.
The list also includes two former MPs — Ram Kripal Yadav, who lost to Misa Bharti of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) from Danapur, will contest from the same seat; Sunil Kumar Pintu, an ex-Janata Dal (United) MP from Sitamarhi, will fight from the Sitamarhi seat. Pintu had recently re-joined the BJP after spending his initial years in politics in the party.
Two other sitting MLAs — Arun Kumar Sinha (Kumhrar) and Amrendra Pratap Singh (Ara) — have been denied tickets.