Poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party plans to field candidates for all the 243 Assembly seats in the upcoming Bihar elections, making it a three-cornered contest along with the JD(U)-BJP alliance and the Mahagathbandhan.

A decision on this was taken as the party held the first-ever meeting of its national executive committee in Patna on Monday.

It was decided that the candidates would be announced in phases, spread across 4 to 5 rounds. The party, which will contest its maiden Bihar polls, will initially declare candidates for 40 reserved constituencies.

Apart from this, the meeting focused on strengthening the party’s organisational structure.

Senior advocate Basant Chaudhary has been appointed the chairperson of the manifesto committee. Chaudhary will work with the party’s national and state presidents to form the rest of the committee and draft the election manifesto.

ON BIHAR VOTER LIST REVISION

The national executive also discussed the contentious issue of voter list revision in Bihar, which has come under opposition fire and has found its way to the Supreme Court. The issue will be heard by the Supreme Court on July 10.

A party delegation will soon meet Election Commission officials to raise concerns regarding the review process.

The drive to revise the electoral rolls was announced on June 24, apparently to sift out ineligible names. However, the opposition has argued that such a revision so close to the polls could weed out 20% of the state’s population, who migrate for work outside Bihar.

The party received a boost on Monday after social media influencer Manish Kashyap joined it with a bunch of supporters in the presence of Kishor. Kashyap resigned from the BJP a month ago.

In its first electoral test last year, the Jan Suraaj Party failed to make an impact in the bypolls it contested in Bihar. The party failed to win any of the four seats, with three candidates losing deposits. It managed to get some votes in Imamganj.

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