Munger (Bihar) [India], October 16 : Ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on Thursday said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was contesting on 243 assembly seats "as a team".
Speaking to ANI, Choudhary further hit out at the opposition Mahagathbandhan over their repeated claims of "vote theft", claiming that they couldn't find a single person in Bihar whose "vote was cut".
"We are here to ensure the Lotus blooms. With the blessings of God, we want the blessings of the public to form the NDA government in Bihar. We are fighting as a team on 243 seats. We have made all the announcements. These people (of Mahagathbandhan) could not find one person in Bihar who said that their vote was cut. They wanted to safeguard infiltrators," Choudhary, who is contesting the Bihar assembly elections from Tarapur constituency, said.
The Bihar Deputy CM offers prayers at Ratneshwar Mahadev temple in Tarapur ahead of filing his nomination for the Bihar Legislative Assembly elections today.
The assembly elections in Bihar on 243 seats are scheduled to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. The counting of votes has been scheduled for November 14.
The final date for filing a nomination for the first phase of the assembly elections is October 17, while that for the second phase is October 20.
BJP on Wednesday announced its third and final list of candidates, naming individuals for 18 seats in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.
The BJP has fielded Satish Kumar Yadav against RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav from Raghopur constituency. The list also included Nand Kishor Ram from Ramnagar, Vinay Bihari from Lauriya, Bina Devi from Kochadhaman, and Kumar Shailendra from Bihpur.
With the third list of candidates, the BJP has announced the names for all the 101 seats allotted to the party in the NDA's seat-sharing arrangement.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) released its first list of 57 candidates. The list includes JD(U) state president Umesh Khushwaha (Mahanar), Bihar Rural Development Minister Shravan Kumar (Nalanda), and Sunil Kumar (Bhore-SC).
Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) also announced the first list of 14 candidates out of the 29 seats allotted to the party in the final seat-sharing.
The Rashtriya Lok Morcha, led by former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha, on Wednesday released the list of six candidates.
The party has announced six candidates across different districts for the state polls. According to the official release issued by State General Secretary Subhash Chandravanshi, Tittu has been fielded from the Basopatti constituency in Siwan district. From Madhubani, the candidate announced is Mayank Anand, while Alok Kumar Singh will contest from the Dinara constituency in Rohtas district.
Meanwhile, the Mahagathbandhan is yet to announce its seat-sharing formula for the upcoming polls.