By Alok Mohit and Vishwapati
Patna: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced candidates for 17 seats in Bihar for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, dropping three sitting MPs, including Union minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey.
The party has nominated former MLA Mithilesh Tiwary to contest from Buxar constituency that had elected Choubey for the second consecutive term in 2019.
According to the list, the BJP has replaced its incumbent MPs Chedi Paswan in Sasaram and Ajay Kumar Nishad in Muzaffarpur. The party has given tickets to former MLA Shivesh Ram and Raj Bhushan Nishad, a greenhorn, to contest from Sasaram and Muzaffarpur seats, respectively.
The saffron party has, however, reposed faith in the remaining 14 sitting MPs, who will seek re-election from their respective constituencies. They include Union ministers RK Singh from Ara, Giriraj Singh from Begusarai and Nityanand Rai from Ujiarpur Lok Sabha seats as well as sitting MPs Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib, Ram Kripal Yadav from Patliputra and Rajeev Pratap Rudy from Saran.
Vivek Thakur, a Rajya Sabha member, has been fielded from Nawada, where the BJP would be contesting, instead of its ally Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), this time.
No seat to women
Not a single woman candidate figures in the list of the BJP, despite the party advocating for one-third reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies. In the outgoing Lok Sabha, the BJP had only one woman representative. Rama Devi, who was elected from Sheohar in 2019, has been denied ticket as the seat has gone to Janata Dal (United), BJP’s partner in the NDA, under the seat-sharing arrangement. The JD(U) has fielded Anand Mohan’s wife Lovely Anand from the constituency.
Out of 17 BJP candidates, ten are from the upper castes, four from the backward classes, and one from the Scheduled Caste. From the backward classes, Nityanand Rai and Ram Kripal Yadav and Ashok Yadav (Madhubani) are from the Yadav caste, while Sanjay Jayaswal is from the Vaishya community. Among the extremely backward class candidates, Pradeep Kumar is from Gangota caste while Raj Bhushan Nishad is from the Mallah community.
Among the upper castes, RK Singh, Radhamohan Singh (Purvi Champaran), Sushil Singh (Aurangabad), Janardan Singh Sigriwal (Maharajganj), and Rajiv Pratap Rudy are from the Rajput caste. Mithilesh Tiwari and Gopalji Thakur are Brahmins, while Giriraj Singh and Vivek Thakur are Bhumihars. There is only one Kayastha, Ravi Shankar Prasad, in the list.
List of BJP candidates :
Patna Sahib: Ravi Shankar Prasad
Patliputra: Ram Kripal Yadav
Buxar: Mithilesh Tiwari
Ara: RK Singh
Begusarai: Giriraj Singh
Aurangabad: Sushil Singh
Nawada: Vivek Thakur
Sasaram: Shivesh Ram
Saran: Rajiv Pratap Rudy
Maharajganj: Janardan Singh Sigriwal
Muzaffarpur: Raj Bhushan Nishad
Ujiarpur: Nityanand Rai
Paschimi Champaran: Dr. Sanjay Jaiswal
Purvi Champaran: Radhamohan Singh
Madhubani: Ashok Kumar Yadav
Darbhanga: Gopalji Thakur
Araria: Pradeep Kumar Singh
Authors Alok Mohit is former senior News Editor of Hindustan Times Patna and Chandigarh editions; can be contacted at mohit.alok19@gmail.com and Viswapati is a senior journalist based in Patna
