Bihar assembly election: Congress releases first list of 21 candidates

New Delhi, Oct 07: The Congress on Wednesday released its first list of 21 candidates for the Bihar assembly elections.

The list was announced after the Congress Central Election Committee headed by party chief Sonia Gandhi cleared their names at a meeting held earlier this week.

The Congress has nominated Shubhanand Mukesh, the son of Congress Legislature Party leader in Bihar Sadanand Singh, for the Kahalgaon assembly seat.

The Congress fielded Akhauri Onkar Nath from Gaya Town instead of Mohan Shrivastava, who is facing charges of rape.

Sources said Shrivastava''s name was earlier cleared, but following objections by some senior leaders, he was dropped and replaced by another candidate.

Tomorrow is the last date for filing of nominations for the first phase of Bihar assembly polls, which will be held on October 28.

Bihar assembly elections will be held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and 7, while the results will be out on November 10.

The Congress will be contesting on 70 seats as part of the RJD-led grand alliance in Bihar.