RJD Fields 143 Candidates for Bihar Polls, Five to Face INDIA Bloc Allies

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Monday released its list of 143 candidates for the Bihar assembly elections, five of whom will face nominees from other INDIA bloc allies.

The announcement came just hours before the deadline for filing nominations for the second and final phase of polling. It also put to rest speculation that the RJD would field a candidate from Kutumba, the constituency held by state Congress President Rajesh Kumar Ram — a move that could have triggered a direct clash between the two allies.

However, the RJD will still face the Congress in Vaishali, Lalganj, and Kahalgaon, and the Vikassheel Insan Party of former state minister Mukesh Sahni in Tarapur and Gaura Boram.

Among the prominent candidates are Tejashwi Yadav (Raghopur), Alok Mehta (Ujiyarpur), Mukesh Raushan (Mahua), and Akhtarul Islam Shahin (Samastipur), all of whom are defending their sitting seats.

RJD president Lalu Prasad's aide Bhola Yadav, who had won Bahadurpur in 2015 but lost it five years later to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), will attempt to reclaim the seat from minister Madan Sahni.

Former Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, defeated by a JD(U) newcomer in last year’s Lok Sabha polls from Siwan, will again contest from his sitting assembly seat of the same name. Former education minister Chandrashekhar, recently in the news for his controversial remarks on Hindu scriptures, has been renominated from Madhepura.

The party appears to have kept its traditional "MY" (Muslim-Yadav) base in focus while distributing tickets, though candidates from other backward and upper castes have also been included.

The RJD has also fielded 21 women — significantly higher than the JD(U) and BJP, its main rivals. The JD(U) and BJP, key partners in the ruling NDA, are contesting 101 seats each.

Frequently accused by its critics of presiding over "jungle raj" during its earlier tenure, the RJD has leaned toward realpolitik rather than image overhaul.

Candidates with strong muscle power remain in the mix: don-turned-politician Bogo Singh (Matihani) is contesting again, while Osama Shahab has been fielded from Raghunathpur, seeking to continue his late father Mohd Shahabuddin’s political legacy in Siwan — a seat the elder Shahabuddin never lost before his disqualification.

Women, too, are stepping in to carry forward the mantle of their "bahubali" fathers and husbands. Former MP Veena Devi, wife of gangster-turned-politician Suraj Bhan Singh, will take on his long-time rival Anant Singh in Mokama. Debutant Shivani Shukla, a law graduate from London, will contest from Lalganj — a constituency twice won by her father Munna Shukla, one of north Bihar’s most feared strongmen, and once by her mother Annu Shukla.