BJP Announces Full List of 101 Candidates for Bihar Assembly Elections

The BJP announced its third list of 18 candidates late Wednesday night, bringing the total number of declared candidates to 101, which matches the seats allocated to the party in the final NDA seat-sharing arrangement for Bihar elections.

Earlier that day, the party had released its second list of 12 candidates. On Tuesday, they had announced 71 names, including Bihar Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, who will contest from Tarapur and Lakhisarai constituencies respectively, along with six state ministers.

In its final candidate selection, the BJP has decided not to field 16 incumbent MLAs.

The BJP list reveals that popular folk singer Maithili Thakur will be contesting from the Alinagar constituency in Darbhanga district.

Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal has emphasized that the NDA is approaching the elections with "rock-solid unity."

The main opposition party, Tejashwi Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal, has yet to announce its candidates. Their alliance partner, Congress, has not issued a formal list, though some candidate names have been shared on the social media platform X.

Other BJP allies have also begun revealing their candidates. Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), which is contesting 101 seats, and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), which is fighting for 29 seats, have announced some candidates. Meanwhile, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) has declared all six of its candidates for the upcoming polls.

In its third list, the BJP has nominated Satish Kumar Yadav to contest from Raghopur, a constituency that Tejashwi Yadav has held since 2015. Prashant Kishor's newly formed Jan Suraaj Party, which is making its electoral debut and contesting all seats, has named Chanchal Singh as its Raghopur candidate.

Raghopur is considered a stronghold of Lalu Yadav's family. Before Tejashwi, the constituency was represented by Lalu Yadav himself and his wife, former Chief Minister Rabri Devi.

The elections for the 243-member Bihar assembly will take place in two phases on November 6 and 11, with vote counting scheduled for November 14.