Patna: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday released its first list of 71 candidates for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, marking the beginning of the saffron party’s formal campaign push in the state.
Among the key names are Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Sinha, who will contest from Tarapur and Lakhisarai respectively. However, in a surprising move, Assembly Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav has been denied a ticket this time.
The list also includes several ministers and senior leaders — Mangal Pandey, Nitish Mishra, Neeraj Kumar Bablu, Jivesh Mishra, Raju Singh, Krishna Kumar Mantu, Surendra Mehta, Dr. Sunil Kumar, Sanjay Saraogi, and Dr. Prem Kumar — reaffirming the BJP’s mix of continuity and fresh electoral strategy.
The party has announced that it will contest 101 seats in total. Out of the 71 candidates named so far, nine are women, including Renu Devi and Shreyasi Singh, signaling a push for broader representation.
In the 2020 elections, the BJP contested 110 seats and won 74, securing 19.46% of the vote share — the second-highest in the NDA after JD(U). With 80 MLAs currently in the Bihar Assembly, the party leadership says it aims to surpass its 2020 performance and “create a record victory” this year.
Party strategists say that caste equations, local dynamics, and past results were carefully analyzed before finalizing the candidates, ensuring “maximum alliance strength” across constituencies.
The BJP performed strongly in the Seemanchal, Mithila, and Magadh regions in the last election, winning key seats such as Araria, Katihar, Purnia, Darbhanga, and Motihari. The party leadership hopes to consolidate its base further while expanding into regions previously dominated by the opposition.
