Patna: Prashant Kishor, the founder of Jan Suraaj, will not contest the Raghopur seat against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav. Instead, the party has nominated Chanchal Singh from the constituency. The announcement was made on Tuesday by Jan Suraaj’s national president, Uday Singh, who also handed over the party’s election symbol to Singh.
With this, speculation around Kishor contesting the assembly elections himself has largely been put to rest. Kishor was earlier rumoured to be considering candidacy from either Kargahar or Raghopur in Rohtas district, but the party has now fielded other candidates from both constituencies.
Who is Chanchal Singh?
Chanchal Singh, 37, hails from the Rajput community and previously served as the state general secretary of the Janata Dal (United)’s business cell between 2014 and 2023. A businessman in the hotel and real estate sectors, Singh has also worked as a contractor under the Namami Gange project, overseeing the development of Sonpur and Simaria ghats.
He has been associated with infrastructure projects including market complexes in Vidupur and multi-storey buildings in Hajipur, and also runs hotel ventures in New Delhi.
Jan Suraaj Expands Candidate List to 117
Jan Suraaj released its second list of candidates for the Bihar Assembly elections on Monday, naming 65 more candidates and bringing the total to 117. The new list has drawn attention for including individuals from a wide range of educational and professional backgrounds — from fifth-grade pass candidates to lawyers and doctors.
Among them is Shatrughan Paswan from Kusheshwarsthan, who is only literate but has previously been associated with both the BJP and the RJD before joining Jan Suraaj. The list also includes two candidates who passed the 10th grade, six with 12th-grade education, seven lawyers, nine doctors, and four engineers.
Of the 65 new candidates, 20 seats are reserved and 45 are in the general category. The list includes 19 Scheduled Caste candidates, one Scheduled Tribe candidate, and 14 Muslim candidates. Within the general category, 34 candidates belong to the Muslim, EBC (Extremely Backward Classes), or OBC (Other Backward Classes) categories, while 11 are from upper castes.
One of the most notable names in the list is 74-year-old Abhaykant Jha, who represented victims of the Bhagalpur riots in court. Introducing him during a press conference, Kishor said the party aims to represent all sections of society.
One-Third Representation for EBCs
Kishor reiterated his commitment to inclusivity, stating that at least one-third of Jan Suraaj’s 243 candidates will be from the extremely backward community. “We had promised to bring good people from society into politics,” he said. “Seventy members of the extremely backward community will contest. If they lack resources, the party will provide them with support and training.”
With 117 candidates already declared — including 25 from reserved constituencies — the party plans to field candidates across all 243 assembly seats in Bihar.
First List Included Diverse Candidates
On October 9, Jan Suraaj announced its first list of 51 candidates, featuring a diverse lineup including doctors, activists, and transgender candidates. Among them were Jagriti Thakur, granddaughter of former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur, from Morwa in Samastipur; Lata Singh, daughter of former Union Minister RCP Singh, from Asthawan; and Preeti Kinnar from Gopalganj.
Other notable candidates included mathematician KC Sinha from Kumhrar in Patna and Patna High Court lawyer YV Giri from Manjhi in Saran.
The first list also revealed the party’s caste composition strategy, with 17 candidates from the EBC category, 11 from the OBC, seven from SC/ST communities, six from minority groups, and seven from the general category.
As Kishor’s political experiment in Bihar gathers momentum, Jan Suraaj appears focused on building a broad social coalition — one that blends grassroots representation with professional expertise, while maintaining its distance from established political elites.
