New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party national president Nitin Nabin will make his debut in the Lok Sabha from his home state of Bihar, with the party naming him as one of nine candidates to win 37 seats in 10 out of 10 states.While the BJP has nominated two candidates from the Bihar quota, Shivesh Kumar, a Dalit who lost out from Sasaram in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, is the second nominee, the suspense over JDU’s selection is growing and the party is yet to officially announce any name, with indications that it will re-elect Union Minister Ram Nath Thakur but may drop RS Harivansh, Vice Chairman.
A powerful section within the JDU supports Nishant Kumar, the son of party president and chief minister Nitish Kumar, whose nearly five decades of public life have been marked by his opposition to dynastic politics, but who faces pressure to cave in to demands from party workers amid concerns about his own health from some quarters.Ram Nath Thakur, son of prominent socialist leader Kapuri Thakur, and former journalist Harivansh have both served in the RS for two consecutive terms.Upendra Kushwaha will contest for the fifth seat again as the NDA candidate and the opposition parties are likely to force their way to the fifth seat despite the lack of unity among rivals, with the ruling alliance confident of winning.Nabin, an upper-caste Kayastha and fifth-term MLA from Bihar, will enter Parliament for the first time, a move that will cement his position in national politics.Meanwhile, the BJP has fielded two MLAs from Assam – Terash Gowalla and Jogen Mohan, former LS MP Sanjay Bhatia from Haryana, Odisha President Manmohan Samal from West Bengal and former West Bengal President Rahul Sinha. Bhatia has resigned from Karnal and takes over from former Prime Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who is now the Union Minister.Outgoing Odisha MP Sujeet Kumar, who quit the BJD after the state assembly elections, is the only recurring candidate from the BJP in this list. The party is yet to announce its list for Maharashtra, where seven seats are vacant and the ruling alliance will get six seats. Laxmi Verma, a native of Kurmi who has risen through the party ranks in Chhattisgarh, is the only female candidate on the BJP’s list.The list is filled with experienced organizational personnel, BJP officials said, underscoring the leadership’s decision to groom a new batch of members for key positions.
