LJP sources said the party gave preference to upper caste and Dalit nominees (File)
Patna:
The Lok Janshakti party on Thursday nominated its 42 candidates for the Bihar assembly polls with BJP setbacks on the list as the party works to make the contest harder for the Nitish-led JD (U) Kumar.
As the party released its first slate of candidates, its chairman Chirag Paswan again appealed to defeat the JD (U), saying a vote for the ruling party would amount to “destroying” Bihar.
All of those 42 seats are among the 71 constituencies that went to the polls in the first phase on October 28, the LJP said.
As expected, the LJP has lined up Rajendra Singh and Usha Vidyarthi, two senior BJP leaders from Bihar who recently joined, respectively from Dinara and Paliganj.
The LJP have announced that they will fight from the seats where JD (U) is also in contention and that they will not attack BJP.
Although the party may contest from a few constituencies where the BJP is also in the fray for political reasons, it will mostly avoid such a situation.
LJP sources said the party gave preference to upper caste and Dalit candidates in choosing its candidates.
Thursday was the last day for nominations for the first phase of the three-phase elections in Bihar.
Hitting Mr. Kumar’s leadership, Chirag Paswan left the NDA in Bihar and claimed that a BJP-LJP government would come to power in that state after the elections.
The BJP has, however, worked to appease the JD (U) leader, constantly claiming that he will once again be the chief minister of the state if the ruling alliance is voted into power once again.
