PATNA, Oct 10: Filing of nomination papers began on Friday for the elections to 121 seats in the first phase of the Bihar assembly polls, officials said.
The first round of the elections will be held on November 6.Candidates can file their nomination papers til October 17, and the scrutiny of such documents will be held on the next day, according to a notification.
The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 20 for the first phase of the assembly polls.Patna, Darbhanga, Madhepura, Saharsa, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur.
Begusarai, Lakhisarai, Munger, Sheikhpura, Nalanda, Buxar, and Bhojpur districts will go for polls in the first phase.
The second and final phase of the poll will take place on November 11 in 122 assembly seats.
The counting of votes will take place on November 14.
The ruling NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc have not declared their list of candidates so far.
Constituents of the NDA and the INDIA bloc are grappling with differences over seat-sharing, with smaller allies in both camps jostling for more seats.
However, Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj party declared a list of 51 candidates on Thursday.
TWO RJD MLAs RESIGN
Two RJD MLAs – Sangeeta Kumari and Chetan Anand – resigned from Bihar Legislative Assembly ahead of next month’s elections.
Both are likely to join the BJP.
A notification by the Assembly secretariat stated that the Mohania and Sheohar seats have fallen vacant following the resignations of Kumari and Anand.
Both were not immediately available for comments.
After the JD(U) returned to the BJP-led NDA earlier this year, both Kumari and Anand started attending proceedings from the treasury benches, prompting the RJD to file disqualification petitions against them.
JD(U) LEADERS JOIN RJD
Former JD(U) lawmakers Santosh Kushwaha and Rahul Sharma on Friday joined the opposition RJD ahead of next month’s Bihar assembly elections.
JD(U)’s Banka MP Girdhari Prasad Yadav’s son Chanaykya Prasad Ranjan and Lok Janshakti Party leader Ajay Kushwaha also joined the RJD in the presence of party leader Tejashwi Yadav.
Welcoming the new entrants, Yadav said, “The RJD family welcomes Santosh Kushwaha, Rahul Sharma, Ajay Kushwaha and Chanaykya Prasad Ranjan. The party will be strengthened after their joining.” He alleged that people were disillusioned with the ruling NDA in Bihar. “The CM is not in his senses. His government will be thrown out by the people in the assembly polls,” he said.Santosh Kushwaha had won the Purnea Lok Sabha seat for the JD(U) twice on the trot, but lost to Independent candidate Pappu Yadav last year. (PTI)
