Bihar council polls: RJD candidates file nomination papers

PATNA: A Mumbai-based businessman and a partyhopper were among three RJD candidates who filed their nomination papers on Wednesday for the Bihar legislative council elections.

Mohd Farooq alias Farooq Shaikh, Rambali Singh Chandravanshi and Sunil Kumar Singh filed their nomination papers at the Vidhan Sabha secretariat here in presence of leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav.

The party, which appeared to be still recovering from the shock of losing its five sitting MLCS to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), had not shared the names of the candidates with the media before they filed their papers.

After the formalities were over, a visibly shaken Yadav told reporters, "The developments of yesterday might benefit Nitish Kumar but the people of Bihar stand to gain nothing from such machinations". Elections are underway for nine Vidhan Parishad seats falling under the Vidhan Sabha constituency. Names of the RJD candidates were cleared by its jailed founding president Lalu Prasad whom the party's parliamentary board had authorized to take a call.

The selection is reflective of the RJD'S aim to maintain its sway over the Muslims and win over non-yadav OBCS and upper castes.

Sunil Kumar Singh, a Rajput by caste and a known

loyalist of the RJD supremo, has been actively associated with the cooperative movement in Bihar and currently heads the BISCOMAUN (Bihar State Cooperative Marketing Union).

Mohd Farooq has a flourishing real estate business in the western metropolis and is

little known in political circles of Bihar, including to the rank and file of the party which has fielded him. RJD sources said he hails from Sheohar district.

Rambali Singh Chandravanshi is a professor at the Bihar National College here and is said to have tried his luck in many parties before joining the RJD a few years ago which appointed him as the president of its EBC cell.