LJP names 5 candidates for Jharkhand Assembly election

LJP has fielded Rekha Chaubey from Nagar Bhavanathpur, Anand Pratap Singh from Husainabad, Shashikant Kumar from Chhatarpur (SC), Shashi Ranjan Dhar Dubey from Vishrampur and Ramdev Prasad Yadav from Panki assembly constituencies.

Ranchi: Hours after declaring that it will go it alone in the Jharkhand assembly polls, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) on Tuesday released a list of five party candidates in the state.

LJP chief Chirag Paswan had earlier announced that his party will not ally with the BJP on 50 out of 81 seats in the Jharkhand assembly polls.

A senior LJP leader said the party has announced the names of five candidates for the first phase polls scheduled on November 30.

The party has fielded Rekha Chaubey from Nagar Bhavanathpur, Anand Pratap Singh from Husainabad, Shashikant Kumar from Chhatarpur (SC), Shashi Ranjan Dhar Dubey from Vishrampur and Ramdev Prasad Yadav from Panki assembly constituencies.

The party leader said that the list of the rest of the 45 candidates will be released after discussing it with the party`s Central Parliamentary Board. The LJP contested unsuccessfully on one seat in 2014 assembly polls in the state.

The BJP was left redfaced after Shiv Sena, its 30-year-old alliance partner in Maharashtra, snubbed the saffron party over government formation in the state.

Even Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal-United (JD-U) has decided to go it alone in the Jharkhand Assembly polls. The BJP, LJP and the JD-U currently have a coalition government in Bihar.

Meanwhile, in response to the list of 52 candidates of the BJP, the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) has announced 12 candidates. The AJSU has fielded its own candidates in at least four constituencies where the saffron party has already announced candidates.

Earlier in the day, AJSU President Sudesh Mahto addressing a press conference said, "When talks were going on, BJP announced its first list. We came out with our list after BJP announced their candidates. We wanted to fight on 19 seats. We have submitted the final list of the 17 seats to BJP. We are waiting for their response."

He claimed that BJP wanted to swap some seats with the AJSU which was not acceptable to the latter. The 81-member Jharkhand Assembly will vote in five phases starting November 30 to December 20. Counting of votes will take place on December 23.