Prashant Kishor Will Not Contest From Raghopur, Party Names Candidate

Political strategist-turned Prashant Kishor put to rest speculation about his contest the Bihar assembly election from Raghopur, fielding a candidate from sitting MLA Tejashwi Yadav's family turf. 

This evening, Jan Suraaj named Chanchal Singh as the candidate from the constituency.

Prahsant Kishor had earlier indicated that he could contest the election in which his Jan Suraaj is fielding candidates in 243 seats of Bihar.

During an interview last month, he had 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".

But the party later announced a candidate for Kargahar -- a seat is located in the Rohtas district and currently held by Congress's Santosh Kumar Mishra -- triggering speculation about a mega battle in Raghopur between Kishor and Tejashwi Yadav. 

Raghopur is the pocket borough of Lalu Yadav's family, where the sitting MLA is his son Tejashwi Yadav. The seat was held earlier by Lalu Yadav and his wife, former Chief Minister Rabri Devi.

Kishor, however, later said whether he would contest or not would be his party's decision.

He, however, had dismissed the possibility of win for Tejashwi Yadav. "Tejashwi Yadav will then definitely lose Raghopur, just like his ally Rahul Gandhi, who in 2019 had won Wayanad but conceded defeat in Amethi," he said.

There is speculation that Yadav could contest an additional seat, preferably Phulparas in Madhubani district. 

In 1977, the area had elected Karpoori Thakur, who went on to become the Chief Minister of Bihar.

The election in Bihar will take place in two phases, on November 6 and 11, and the counting of votes will take place on November 14.