Bihar: 86 candidates file nominations for five seats going to polls in second phase

Altogether 86 candidates have filed their nomination papers for five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar that will go to polls in the second phase on April 26, the election department said on Thursday.

According to the department, a maximum number of 21 candidates have filed their nomination papers for Bhagalpur, followed by Katihar (20), Banka (19), Kishanganj (15) and Purnea (11).

Barring Kishanganj, where sitting Congress MP Mohd Javed seeks re-election, all seats are held by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) which has reposed its trust in those who had won their respective constituencies five years ago.

In Kishanganj, the JD(U) has given a ticket to Mujahid Alam, the runner-up of 2019. The Muslim-majority seat is set to witness a three-cornered fight between the Congress, JD(U) and AIMIM, which has nominated Akhtarul Iman, who had polled nearly three lakh votes in the last elections.

Bhagalpur JD(U) MP Ajay Mandal's re-election bid is tipped to face a challenge from Ajeet Sharma of the Congress who filed his nomination papers on the last day.

Sharma, who had earlier won the Bhagalpur assembly seat three times in a row, initially wanted a party ticket for his daughter Neha, a Bollywood actress, who, however, refused to enter the fray.

State Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh was present when Sharma filed his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha seat which the Congress is contesting after nearly three decades.

Singh, however, frowned upon disgruntled party leader Pappu Yadav throwing his hat in the ring in Purnea, which as per a seat-sharing arrangement, has gone to ally RJD.

''Pappu Yadav is advised to withdraw his nomination papers. The Congress cannot allow its members to stand as Independent candidates. He should follow the example of many other senior leaders who wanted to contest polls from other seats but chose not to in the interest of our coalition,'' Singh said.

RJD candidate from Purnea, Bima Bharti, is a sitting MLA who quit the JD(U) a couple of weeks ago. JD(U) MP Santosh Kushwaha is aiming at a hat-trick from the seat.

Katihar seems heading for a straight contest between JD(U) MP Dulal Chandra Goswami and former Union minister Tariq Anwar, the Congress runner-up of 2019, who had won the seat a number of times for the party.

In Banka, sitting JD(U) MP Giridhari Yadav is locked in a straight contest with Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav, who had won the seat for RJD in 2014.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)