The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday announced its first list of 71 candidates for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, scheduled to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. The list features a mix of fresh and familiar faces, while also reflecting some bold choices, including the denial of tickets to three sitting MLAs—most notably, Assembly Speaker and seven-time Patna Sahib MLA Nand Kishore Yadav.

In this first list, the BJP has retained 53 candidates and replaced nominees in 15 constituencies. The party is contesting 101 of the 243 seats as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and is expected to release its second list of 30 candidates soon.

Among the key candidates is Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who currently serves as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC). He will contest from the Tarapur seat. His fellow Deputy CM, Vijay Kumar Sinha, has been fielded again from his stronghold, Lakhisarai. Another notable name is Mangal Pandey, also an MLC and a minister in the NDA government, who will contest from Siwan.

The list also includes two former MPs: Ram Kripal Yadav, who lost to RJD’s Misa Bharti in the last general election, will contest from Danapur; and Sunil Kumar Pintu, an ex-JD(U) MP from Sitamarhi who recently rejoined the BJP, will contest from the same seat.

Other sitting MLAs who have been denied tickets include Arun Kumar Sinha (Kumhrar) and Amrendra Pratap Singh (Ara). Patna Sahib will now be contested by Ratnesh Kushwaha.

The party has fielded nine women candidates in this list, including prominent names like Renu Devi, Gayatri Devi, Devanti Yadav, and Rama Nishad. Shooter-turned-politician Shreyasi Singh has been retained from Jamui.

A new entrant, IRS officer Sujit Kumar Singh, who resigned from civil service just a day before the announcement, has been given a ticket from Gaura Bauram—replacing his wife, Swarna Singh, the sitting MLA.

This announcement comes just days after the NDA finalised its seat-sharing arrangement: BJP and JD(U) will contest 101 seats each, while LJP (Ram Vilas) will contest 29, and HAM (Secular) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha will fight on six seats each.