Bihar Assembly elections: Jan Suraaj Party releases first list of 51 candidates

Jan Suraaj Party, founded by former poll-strategist Prashant Kishor on Thursday (October 9, 2025), announced the first list of 51 party candidates to contest the upcoming two-phased Assembly elections in the State, for which the Election Commission had earlier, announced dates as November 6 and 11.

The poll results will be announced on November 14.

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Among the list of JSP 17 candidates are from the Extremely Backward Class (EBC), 11 from Backward Classes (BC), 7 from the Scheduled castes,7 from the minority community and 9 from the General Category.. According to the Bihar caste survey report 2022, the EBC comprises the largest section of the population (36.0148%) in the state, followed by Backward Class (27.1286%) and Scheduled Caste (19.6518%). The General Category of population comprises the State as 15.5224%, said the survey report.

Among the names in the list of party candidates, senior JSP leader R.K. Mishra will be contesting from the Darbhanga town Assembly seat, while noted Patna High Court lawyer and JSP member Y.V. Giri will be the party candidate from Manjhi constituency of Saran district. Eminent mathematician K C Sinha will contest the poll from the Kumhrar constituency of Patna Central, while party leader Kishore Kumar Munna is the party’s candidate from Saharsa. Popular Bhojpuri film singer Ritesh Ranjan Pandey will be party candidate from upper caste Brahmin-dominated Kargahar constituency of Rohtas district.

Party’s national president Uday Singh announced that JSP would release its second list of party candidates tomorrow or day after, October 11 or 12. “The list of party candidates will be released now every one-two day as there is less time left for the poll”, Mr Singh told a huge battery of media persons gathered at Mr Kishor’s at Patliputra Colony accommodation.

Party founder Prashant Kishor, who was not present when the list was released by JSP leaders, however, will kick off the party’s poll campaign on October 11 from Raghopur (Vaishali) Assembly constituency, from where Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav who is also Leader of Opposition in Assembly, has been winning poll since last two consecutive terms 2015 and 2020.

JSP leader R.C.P Singh, who earlier was close to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, read out names of party candidates from a mobile phone which was later circulated to media persons.

With the Assembly elections just weeks ahead in Bihar, meanwhile, leaders of other political parties were meeting in a closed-door meeting on Thursday to finalise the list of party candidates to contest the poll. Some of the alliance partners of the ruling NDA, like Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas), Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi of Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), are said to be not satisfied with the number of seats offered to them.

Similar is the situation reeling among the Opposition mahagathbnadhan (grand alliance) bloc, where constituent Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP) of Mukesh Sahani, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party of Pashupati Kumar Paras and Congress parties are still hobnobbing to garner the maximum number of seats to contest out of the total 243-member state assembly. Mukesh Sahani has been demanding 60 seats and the post of Deputy Chief Minister. The Sahani population of boatmen and fishermen in Bihar is about 9.6%.

However, the buzz in political circles of Bihar is that both the blocs of alliance parties ruling NDA and Opposition mahagathbandhan would announce list of party candidates for the upcoming assembly poll by October 12.