Jan Suraaj Party Chief Prashant Kishor addresses a press conference, in Patna on Monday, October 6, 2025.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), founded by former election strategist Prashant Kishor, on Thursday announced its first list of 51 candidates for the upcoming two-phased Assembly elections in Bihar, scheduled for November 6 and 11. The results will be declared on November 14.Of the 51 candidates, 17 are from the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC), 11 from Backward Classes (BC), seven from Scheduled Castes, seven from the minority community, and nine from the General category.According to the Bihar caste survey report of 2022, the EBC comprise the largest section of the population (36.01%) in the State, followed by Backward Classes (27.12%) and Scheduled Castes (19.65%). The General category accounts for 15.52% of the population.Among the JSP nominees are senior party leader R.K. Mishra from Darbhanga town, Patna High Court lawyer Y.V. Giri from Manjhi in Saran district, mathematician K.C. Sinha from Kumhrar in central Patna, Kishore Kumar Munna from Saharsa, and Bhojpuri film singer Ritesh Ranjan Pandey from the upper-caste Brahmin-dominated Kargahar seat in Rohtas district.JSP national president Uday Singh announced that the second list of candidates would be released on 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 reporters at Mr. Kishor’s residence in Patliputra Colony.Mr. Kishor, who was not present at the announcement, will formally launch the JSP’s election campaign on October 11 from Raghopur (Vaishali), the constituency of Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav, who has held the seat since 2015.JSP leader R.C.P. Singh, once a close aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, read out the names of the candidates from a mobile phone before circulating the list to the media.With the Assembly elections weeks away, other parties in the State are also finalising their lists. Within the ruling NDA, leaders such as Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) are learnt to be dissatisfied with the number of seats offered.A similar situation prevails in the Opposition mahagathbandhan, where the Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP) led by Mukesh Sahani, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party of Pashupati Kumar Paras, and the Congress are still engaged in talks to maximise their share of seats in the 243-member Assembly. Mr. Sahani has been demanding 60 seats and the post of Deputy Chief Minister. His community of boatmen and fishermen accounts for about 9.6% of the State’s population.Political circles in Bihar expect both the NDA and the mahagathbandhan to announce their final candidate lists by October 12. Published - October 09, 2025 05:26 pm IST
