LS poll: Lalu's 2 daughters among 22 RJD candidates

The Rashtriya Janata Dal has formally announced its candidates for all but one of the 23 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, where the party is contesting as a constituent of the opposition 'Mahagathbandhan'.

Party president Lalu Prasad's daughters -- Rohini Acharya and Misa Bharti -- are among the RJD nominees.

According to a release issued by RJD state president Jagdanand Singh late on Tuesday, Acharya will contest from Saran, a seat her father had won many times.

Prasad represented the seat until his disqualification in 2013 when he was convicted in a fodder scam.

Bharti, his eldest daughter who is enjoying her second term in the Rajya Sabha, will try her luck in the Patliputra Lok Sabha constituency.

A party functionary said a candidate is yet to be announced for Siwan, where the RJD had for years been fielding the late Mohd Shahubuddin.

As per the seat-sharing arrangement among partners of the ‘Mahagathbandhan', the RJD has kept 26 of Bihar's 40 Lok Sabha seats, leaving nine for Congress and five for the Left parties.

The RJD, last week, struck a deal with former Bihar minister Mukesh Sahni, whose Vikashsheel Insaan Party has been given three seats from its quota.

Sudhakar Singh got the RJD ticket from the Buxar Lok Sabha seat, while Ali Asharaf Fatmi will contest from Madhubani and Surendra Prasad from Jehanabad.

Other RJD candidates include Kumar Sarvjeet (Gaya), Shrawan Kumar Kushwaha (Nawada), Bima Bharti (Purnea) and Archana Ravidass (Jamui). All the four have already filed their nominations.

The party also nominated Jai Prakash Yadava from Banka, Lalit Yadav from Darbhanga and Chandrahas Chaupal from Supaul.
Alok Kumar Mehta will contest on an RJD ticket from Ujiyarpur, Arjun Ai from Sitamarhi, Deepak Yadav from Valmikinagar, Ritu Jaiswal from Seohar and Kumar Chandradeep from Madhepura.

The Lok Sabha elections to 40 seats in Bihar will be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1.