10 Muslims in Congress list of 41 nominees

LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan, whose main poll-plank in Bihar is a Muslim CM, seems to have some tough competition ahead, as the first list of...

LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan, whose main poll-plank in Bihar is a Muslim CM, seems to have some tough competition ahead, as the first list of Congress candidates would reveal. One-fourth of the nominees, 10 out of 41, are Muslims.

Congress pointman for Bihar Digvijay Singh attributed this to the social composition of constituencies it is contesting. ‘‘We have gone by one consideration, capacity to win,’’ he said. Singh added that the party was guided by RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav’s advice too.

The Muslim candidates are Khurshid Alam (Sikta), Shamim Akhtar (Bettiah), Khalil Ansari (Sitamarhi), Ahmar Hassan (Bisfi), Mahboob Ali Quiiser (Simri Bakhtiarpur), Moidur Rahman (Araria), Mohammad Javed (Bahadurganj), Abdul Jalil Mastan (Amour), and Mubaraque Hussain (Manihari).

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Two of them, Khurshid and Shamim, are new faces and referred to as musclemen. Others in the same bracket are Abhey Kumar Singh Sarjan (Matihani) and Sanjeev Prasad Tony (Fatwa). The husband of Aruna Devi (Warsaliganj) is said to be a muscleman too.

When his attention was drawn to it, Singh, while claiming he did not have any idea on this aspect of the candidates, said, ‘‘No one is in jail.’’

‘‘We have considered only their political record, not criminal record,’’ he said adding that details of cases against candidates concerned would be in any case known in their affidavits to the Election Commission.

Six independent members of the last Assembly have got the Congress ticket. They are Dilip Kumar Manjhi (Mairwa-SC), Yogeshwar Jha (Benipatti), Ramdeo Rai (Bachwara), Sunita Devi (Korha-SC), Awadesh Singh (Gaya Mufassil) and Tousif Alam. Of the 10 Congress members in the last Assembly, nine have been renominated. The sole exception, Ashok Chaudhry, was denied ticket due to alleged involvement in a criminal case.

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Sanjay Sahay, son of the late Dayanand Sahay, will contest from Gaya Town. Veena Shahi, who has been put up from Vaishali, is daughter-in-law of veteran leader L P Shahi. Jyoti, a close relation of Paswan, has been given ticket to contest Sahar-SC constituency. State president Sadanand Singh would fight from his traditional constituency, Tehalganj. Legislature party leader in the last House Vijay Shankar Dubey will contest Raghunathpur.

There would be a friendly fight between Congress and CPI(M) in Bisfi constituency.

Meanwhile, the release of the Common Minimum Programme has been deferred till the end of ‘‘pitrupaksh.’’

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