Patna: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has taken an early lead in Bihar’s election race, becoming the first party to release its list of candidates ahead of the Assembly elections. At a press conference held at a local hotel on Monday, Bihar in-charge Ajesh Yadav and state president Rakesh Yadav unveiled the party’s first list of 11 candidates.
AAP leaders said the party will contest all 243 seats independently, using the “Kejriwal model of governance”—focused on education, healthcare, and public welfare—that has already been implemented in Delhi and Punjab. The party’s campaign will centre on issues of migration, unemployment, and inflation, which it says have worsened under successive state governments.
“Bihar’s youth are leaving the state in search of work, inflation has eroded livelihoods, and corruption continues unchecked. The people of Bihar deserve an alternative built on honesty and development,” said Ajesh Yadav.
The announcement comes even as seat-sharing negotiations continue within both the NDA and the Grand Alliance, neither of which has finalised its lists. Grand Alliance ally Mukesh Sahni recently said the agreement among partners has been reached and will soon be made public, while Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been holding back-to-back meetings with NDA allies in Patna to finalise the seat formula.
The Aam Aadmi Party’s first list of candidates includes:
- Dr Meera Singh – Begusarai (Begusarai)
- Yogi Chaupal – Kusheshwarsthan (Darbhanga)
- Amit Kumar Singh – Taraiya (Saran)
- Bhanu Bharatiya – Kasba (Purnia)
- Shubhada Yadav – Benipatti (Madhubani)
- Arun Kumar Rajak – Phulwari Sharif (Patna)
- Dr Pankaj Kumar – Bankipur (Patna)
- Ashraf Alam – Kishanganj (Kishanganj)
- Akhilesh Narayan Thakur – Parihar (Sitamarhi)
- Ashok Kumar Singh – Govindganj (Motihari)
- Former Captain Dharamraj Singh – Buxar (Buxar)
While the JD (U) and BJP are expected to reveal their seat-sharing arrangement within a week, AAP’s early announcement signals its intent to position itself as a third alternative in Bihar’s bipolar political landscape.
State president Rakesh Yadav said, “We are not here to be anyone’s B-team. We are here to offer Bihar a genuine alternative — a politics of performance, not promises.”
