By Neeraj Kumar
Patna: On Sunday, a meeting of all National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituents was held at the official residence of Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary to strategise for the upcoming by-elections in four assembly seats in Bihar. The meeting was attended by BJP state president Dilip Jaiswal, JD(U) acting national president Sanjay Jha, JD(U) state president Umesh Kushwaha, LJP state president Raju Tiwari, and HAM national president Santosh Suman. The leaders discussed nomination and campaign strategies for their candidates.
“We have made preparations to contest elections on all four seats. Candidates have also been announced. Meetings of workers at the booth level are being held in all four constituencies. All the NDA leaders discussed the campaign approach and the timing of each candidate’s nomination,” said Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal.
JD(U) State President Umesh Kushwaha expressed confidence, stating, “We will contest the elections with full strength. We are confident of defeating our opponents in the by-election.” Similarly, LJP (Ram Vilas) state president Raju Tiwari assured that the party is united, saying, “We are entering the by-election with rock-solid unity. Our leader, Chirag Paswan, has urged the workers to vote in favour of the NDA.” Tiwari further revealed that the alliance has reached a consensus to field Jitan Ram Manjhi’s daughter-in-law as the candidate for the Imamganj seat.
The by-elections in Bihar cover four assembly seats. The BJP is contesting two seats, JD(U) one, and HAM one. The BJP has fielded Ashok Singh for the Ramgarh constituency and Prashant Vishal, son of Bahubali Sunil Pandey, for the Tarari constituency. Janata Dal (United) has nominated Manorama Devi for the Belaganj seat, while Deepa Manjhi, wife of HAM leader Santosh Suman, has been chosen for the Imamganj seat.
The Grand Alliance has also announced its candidates for the by-elections. Roshan Kumar Manjhi is contesting from Imamganj, Vishwanath Kumar Singh from Belaganj, Ajit Kumar Singh from Ramgarh, and Raju Yadav from Tarari. Notably, Vishwanath Kumar Singh is the son of MP Surendra Yadav, while Ajit Kumar Singh is the younger brother of MP Sudhakar Singh and son of RJD state president Jagdanand Singh.
The by-elections follow the election of the previous MLAs as MPs in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. CPIML’s Sudama Prasad represented Tarari, RJD’s Sudhakar Singh was from Ramgarh, RJD’s Surendra Yadav held the Belaganj seat, and HAM’s Jitan Ram Manjhi represented Imamganj. Their subsequent resignation has necessitated these by-elections.
Voting will take place on 13th November for all four assembly seats, with results scheduled to be announced on 23rd November.
