The NDA suffered an embarrassing setback on Saturday as the Election Commission rejected the nomination papers of a key candidate on “technical grounds”. The Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) had fielded Bhojpuri actor-turned-politician Seema Singh as its candidate from Marhoura — one of 29 seats allocated to the party under a seat-sharing arrangement. The constituency is now likely to witness a direct contest between sitting RJD MLA Jitendra Kumar Rai and Jan Suraaj Party candidate Abhay Singh.
“We have submitted a representation before the Election Commission. The situation has arisen because of a small lapse. Hopefully, it will be resolved,” PTI quoted Paswan as saying.
The poll body also rejected the papers of former JD(U) leader Altaf Alam Raju, who had entered the fray as an Independent candidate from Marhoura. The seat goes to polls in the first phase on November 6 and, as of now, is left with nine candidates in the fray, since nomination papers of four have been rejected. The last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is October 20.
Both BJP and the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) are each contesting 101 seats in the upcoming polls, with the remaining constituencies split between their allies. The 243 Assembly seats will go to the polls on November 6 and November 11, with counting of votes to be held on November 14.
Decided to contest elections alone: RLJP chief
Meanwhile Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party chief Pashupati Kumar Paras confirmed that his party has decided to go solo in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, scheduled to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11, hoping to win a “good number of seats” in the first phase. Paras told ANI that the decision was taken after efforts to form an alliance with the opposition Mahagathbandhan failed to yield any results.
“We made significant efforts to form an alliance with the Mahagathbandhan, but the alliance did not materialise. Our party is strong in Bihar with the support of Dalit Sena. We have decided to contest the elections alone. I am hopeful that in the first phase of the elections, we will win a good number of seats,” the former BJP ally said.