Becoming the first party to declare the list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar, the BJP released names of 43 party members on Tuesday who will be contesting against JD(U)-led alliance in October.

The BJP's decision was, however, not wilfully welcomed by its ally, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party led by Upendra Kushwaha.

RSLP party leader Fazal Mallick said that the BJP should not have declared the first list when negotiation to identify assembly seats among partners was still going on. Mallick said the BJP went against the coalition dharma with its decision, The Indian Express reported.

While the first list includes 19 candidates for the first phase and 15 for the second, nine others will be contesting in other phases. The list, which was released by senior BJP leader and Union Minister JP Nadda, was finalised after the meeting of the BJP's Central Election Committee chaired by party president Amit Shah.

Releasing the list, Nadda said that the party has taken into consideration several factors while preparing the list. More than 50% candidates in the first list are women and youth and nearly 60% candidates are from Scheduled Class or other backward castes.

"We have tried to give representation to all communities," PTI quoted Nadda as saying at a press conference.

The list includes five Yadavs, the community that earlier supported Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD. However, RJD has now joined hands with the JD(U) to defeat the BJP-led NDA in Bihar.

In the assembly polls that is starting on 12 October, BJP is contesting on 160 seats while LJP, RLSP and HAM (secular) will contest 40, 23 and 20 constituencies respectively.

Number of Candidates Assembly Number and Names Candidates
First Phase
1 136 Saray Ranjan Ranjit Nirguni
2 139 Rosera Manju Hazaari
3 143 Teghra Ramlakhan Singh
4 144 Maatihani Sarvesh Kumar Singh
5 146 Begusarai Surendra Mehta
6 147 Bakhari Ramanand Ram
7 151 Parbatta Ramanuj Chaudhary
8 152 Bihpur Kumar Shailendra
9 153 Gopalpur Anil Yadav
10 154 Pirpainti Lallan Paswan
11 161 Banka Ramnarayan Mandal
12 162 Katoria Nikki Hembram
13 163 Belhar Manoj Yadav
14 165 Munger Pranav Kumar Yadav
15 167 Suryagadh Prem Ranjan Patel
16 168 Lakhisarai Vijay Kumar Sinha
17 235 Rajauli Arjun Ram
18 236 Hisua Anil Sinha
19 242 Jhajha Ravindra Yadav
Second phase
20 203 Ramgarh Ashok Singh
21 204 Mohania Niranjan Ram
22 206 Chainpur Brij Kishore Bind
23 208 Sasaram Jawahar Prasad
24 210 Dinara Rajendra Singh
25 211 Nokha Rameshwar Prasad Chaurasia
26 213 Karakat Rajeshwar Raj
27 214 Arval Chitranjan Kumar
28 219 Goh Manoj Sharma
29 221 Nabinagar Gopal Singh
30 223 Aurangabad Ramdhar Singh
31 225 Gurua Rajeev Dangi
32 229 Bodhgaya Shyamdev Paswan
33 230 Gaya City Prem Kumar
34 234 Wazirganj Virendra Singh
Rest of the phases
35 8   Betiya Renu Devi
36 19  Motihari Pramod Kumar
37 28  Sitamadhi Sunil Kumar
38 32  Benipatti Vinod Narayan Jha
39 173 Rajgir Satyadev Narayan Arya
40 182 Bankipur Nitin Naveen
41 183 Kumrar Arun Kumar
42 184 Patna Sahib Nand Kishore Yadav
43 194 Arah Amrendra Pratap Singh