Backward Castes, Professionals, Bureaucrats On Prashant Kishor's List: Sources

Election strategist-turned politician Prashant Kishor, who declared that his Jan Suraaj Party would contest from every constituency in Bihar in the coming assembly election, is banking heavily on candidates from backward castes. The poll plank of Kishor being a corruption-free, developed state, sources said his key players - many of them former bureaucrats -- are also handpicked with an eye to their clean image.

The Jan Suraaj Party will release its first list of candidates on October 9. The jumbo list also includes the names of many professionals -- lawyers, doctors, and academics. The party is also fielding around 25 former government officials, sources said. 

Kishor has indicated that he, too, could contest. During an interview last month, he said, "Deliberations are on in the party, and if a collective decision is taken that I too enter the fray, then, as I also said in that interview, it has to be Kargahar or Raghopur".

The Kargahar seat is located in the Rohtas district and is currently held by Santosh Kumar Mishra of the Congress. Raghopur is the pocket borough of Lalu Yadav's family, where the sitting MLA is his son Tejashwi Yadav.

Senior party leaders have not reached a consensus on Kishor's candidature, sources said. There is also a question mark on the candidature of former MLA and party general secretary Kishore Kumar Munna.

Candidates Prashant Kishore is betting on:

KC Sinha: Kumhrar

Renowned mathematician KC Sinha will be the Jan Suraaj Party's candidate from Kumhrar. KC Sinha has served as the Vice Chancellor of several universities. His mathematics textbooks have been taught in schools in Bihar for over 30 years. He has written over 70 books. So a large section of the population connects with him. He is already associated with Jan Suraaj. The party is fielding him from the Kumhrar constituency in Patna.

YB Giri: Manjhi

YB Giri is a senior advocate at the Patna High Court. He has fought several high-profile cases, including the one involving alleged paper leak in the state public service commission exams. 

He also played a key role in bringing RCP Singh -- former national president of Aap Sabki Aawaz and Janata Dal (United) -- into the party. He will be the party's candidate from the Manjhi constituency.

Rambali Chandravanshi - Kurtha

Former member of Legislative Council Rambali Chandravanshi was with Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal but joined Jan Suraaj after his membership was revoked last year.

A member of Extremely Backward Castes - a strong focus area for Jan Suraaj - he had organized caste conferences in several parts of the state and worked on the party's people connect. The party has nominated him from the Kurtha constituency.

JP Singh: Chapra

JP Singh, a former top cop from Himachal Pradesh, joined Jan Suraaj after taking voluntary retirement. A 2000-batch IPS officer, he has been active in Chapra for about a year. The party is fielding him as its candidate from Chapra.

Dr. BB Prasad: Dhaka

Dr. BB Prasad runs his own clinic in Motihari along with his wife, who is also a doctor. The couple has been involved in social work for a long time. They belong to the Extremely Backward Castes and have been with Jan Suraaj for a while. Now, the party is fielding him as its candidate from Dhaka.

Dr. AK Das: Muzaffarpur

Dr. AK Das, a well-known doctor from Muzaffarpur, belongs to the Kayastha caste. He is known as an excellent physician. He has also been involved in political activities for the past few months. The party is fielding him as a candidate from Muzaffarpur.

RK Mishra: Darbhanga 

RK Mishra, former DG (Home Guard), has been associated with Jan Suraaj since its inception. There was speculation that he would contest the last assembly election, but he did not. He has brought several retired bureaucrats into the party fold and will be contesting this time. A decision is yet to be taken on the constituency he would contest.