Singer Maithili Thakur and PM Modi
Credit: X/@maithilithakur
New Delhi: A day after it released its first list of 71 candidates for the Bihar assembly polls, the BJP released a second list of 12 candidates on Wednesday, where over nine faces have been fielded. Singer Maithili Thakur and former IPS officer Anand Mishra are among the prominent faces given tickets.
Thakur, who rose to be a music sensation over the years after putting out her music on streaming platforms, has been fielded from Alinagar. The BJP has fielded the singer, who is in her 20s, to bag the Maithili votebank in Mithilanchal region with Alinagar being an interesting fight. Prime minister Narendra Modi had earlier mentioned her work in the Mann Ki Baat radio programme.
Maithili had joined the BJP on Tuesday. “I am very impressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. I am here to serve society and contribute to the development of Bihar,” she had said on joining.
Another prominent face is Anand Mishra, former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre who had resigned from service in January 2024 while he was SSP, Lakhimpur (Assam), and contested the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections from Buxar as an independent candidate. He has been fielded from Buxar assembly segment.
Other candidates include Chhoti Kumari from Chhapra, Virendra Kumar from the Rosra seat, Ram Chandra Prasad from Hayaghat, Vinay Kumar Singh from Sonepur. The nine new faces include Ranjan Kumar, Subhash Singh, Kedarnath Singh, Siyaram Singh, Mahesh Paswan, and Rakesh Ojha, besides Thakur, Mishra, and Kumari.
Paswan will contest from Agiaon which was contested by a Janata Dal (United) candidate in 2020. Among the faces dropped are sitting MLAs Gyanendra Singh Gyanu from the Barh seat, CN Gupta from Chhapra, and Kusum Devi from Gopalganj.
The JD(U) also released its first list of 57 candidates for the assembly elections. Umesh Khushwaha has been fielded from Mahanar, Shravan Kumar from Nalanda seat, and Sunil Kumar from Bhore.
Nominations for the 121 seats to be polled in the first phase will be over on Friday. Elections to the 243-member assembly will be held in two phases – on November 6 and 11 – while the counting of votes will take place on November 14.