Bihar NDA announces Lok Sabha election 2019 candidates, BJP repeats most sitting MPs, Ravi Shankar Prasad gets Patna Sahib

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Saturday declared candidates for all the 39 constituencies of Bihar for Lok Sabha election 2019 in Patna. Some of the big names from the NDA camp contesting the Lok Sabha election in Bihar are Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib as the sitting BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha has rebelled and is all set to join the Congress and fight from the same seat.

BJP has also given tickets to most of its sitting MPs including Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh,  Ram Kripal Yadav (Patliputra), Rajiv Pratap Rudy (Saran) and Raj Kumar Singh (Arrah).

Giriraj Singh, who won from Nawada in 2014 Lok Sabha election, has been shifted to Begusarai although he had expressed his desire to contest from his old seat. But in the seat-sharing agreement, Nawada constituency went to Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party.

The JDU, which was not with the NDA in the last general election, has repeated its sitting MPs - Santosh Kumar Kushwaha from Purnia and Kaushalendra Kumar from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar home turf Nalanda.

The Lok Janshakti Party once again resembles a family outfit with three of Ram Vilas Paswan's relatives contesting the elections. While Paswan, who has won the Lok Sabha elections nine times, deciding to hang his boots from electoral politics, his two younger brothers and his son are in the fray.

As per the seat-sharing agreement between NDA constituents in the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal United are contesting in 17 constituencies each while the Lok Janshakti Party has got six.

Here is the full list of Bihar NDA candidates for Lok Sabha election 2019:

BJP

Patliputra - Ram Kirpal Yadav, sitting MP
Patna Sahib - Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Law Minister
Arrah - Raj Kumar Singh (RK Singh), sitting MP
Purvi Champaran - Radha Mohan Singh, sitting MP and Union Agriculture Minister
Paschim Champaran - Sanjay Jaiswal, sitting MP
Sheohar - Rama Devi, sitting MP
Madhubani - Ashok Kumar Yadav, son of sitting MP Hukmdev Narayan Yadav
Darbhanga - Gopalji Thakur. Sitting BJP MP Kirti Jha Azad rebelled and joined Congress
Muzaffarpur - Ajay Nishad, sitting MP
Maharajganj - Janardan Singh Sigriwal, sitting MP
Saran - Rajiv Pratap Rudy, sitting MP
Buxar - Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, sitting MP
Sasaram (SC) - Cheddi Paswan, sitting MP
Begusarai - Giriraj Singh, won from Nawada in 2014
Araria - Pradeep Singh
Aurangabad - Sushil Kumar Singh, sitting MP
Ujiyarpur - Nityanand Rai, sitting MP and BJP Bihar president

JDU

Purnia - Santosh Kumar Kushwaha, sitting MP
Madhepura - Dinesh Chandra Yadav, Bihar minister
Supaul - Dilkeshwar Kamat
Kishanganj - Mahmood Ashraf
Katihar - Dulalchand Goswami
Siwan - Kavita Singh
Balmiki Nagar - Baidyanath Mahto
Jhanjharpur - Ram Preet Mandal
Sitamarhi - Dr Barun Kumar
Gaya (SC) - Vijay Kumar Manjhi
Gopalganj (SC) - Dr Alok Suman
Munger - Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, close aide of Nitish Kumar and Bihar Water Resources Minister
Banka - Giridhari Yadav
Bhagalpur - Ajay Kumar Mandal
Nalanda - Kaushalendra Kumar, sitting MP
Karakat - Mahabali Singh
Jahanabad - Chandeshwar Prasad Chandrawanshi

LJP

Hajipur (SC) - Pashupati Kumar Paras, LJP Bihar chief and Ram Vilas Paswan's brother
Vaishali - Beena Devi, wife of JDU MLC Dinesh Kumar Singh
Samastipur (SC) - Ram Chandra Paswan, Ram Vilas Paswan's brother
Jamui (SC) - Chirag Paswan, Ram Vilas Paswan's son 
Nawada - Chandan Kumar
Khagadia - Yet to announce. Choudhary Mahboob Ali Kaiser is the sitting MP

Kaushal Yadav of JDU will contest the Nawada Assembly byelection while BJP will contest from Dehri and the name of the candidate will be announced later.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP had won 22 seats and the LJP was successful in six. Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP, which was a part of the NDA in 2014 but has now joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led Mahagathbandhan, won in three Lok Sabha seats. The remaining nine seats were bagged by the RJD (four), JDU (two), Congress (two) and Nationalist Congress Party (one).