Patna: BJP MP Sushil Kumar Singh, who will be running for a fourth consecutive term from Bihar's Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat, on Monday filed his nomination papers. Singh filed his nomination papers a day after the BJP announced its candidates for all 17 seats, out of 40, it will be contesting in Bihar.
Singh, who had made his debut on a JD(U) ticket and aims at a hat-trick for BJP, filed his nomination papers in the presence of a number of party leaders and allies like former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, the founder of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), and the latter's son and state minister Santosh Suman.
Manjhi is the MLA from Imamganj, which falls under the Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency. The HAM founder will himself contest from the adjoining reserved Gaya constituency, the lone seat assigned to the NDA partner. After filing of nomination papers, the leaders exuded confidence that the NDA "will win all 40 seats in Bihar and cross the 400 mark in Parliament".
Lok Sabha polls in Bihar have been staggered across all seven phases and voting will take place for four seats -Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada and Jamui - in the first phase on April 19. Filing of nominations will come to a close on Thursday, though so far the Aurangabad MP has been the only NDA candidate in Bihar to have done the needful.
Manjhi and Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Thakur, whom the BJP has named its candidate from Nawada, are likely to file their nomination papers in the next few days. Thakur's principal rival is expected to be Shravan Kumar Kushwaha of RJD, who has filed his nomination papers. The RJD has given tickets to Archana Ravidas for Jamui, currently held by Chirag Paswan, who is shifting base to Hajipur and likely to field his brother-in-law Arun Bharti, though a formal announcement is yet to be made by the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), which is also an NDA partner.
Manjhi's bid to enter the Lok Sabha, from a seat where he has tried his luck twice with no success, will be challenged by Kumar Sarvajeet, the RJD MLA from Bodh Gaya. In Aurangabad, JD(U) turncoat Abhay Kushwaha has got the RJD ticket, evoking protests from the Congress which wants the seat for retired Delhi Police Commissioner Nikhil Kumar, who had won the seat in 2009.
