Bihar Elections 2020: 6 cabinet ministers test their strength in phase-1

New Delhi, Oct 28: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) is contesting in 35 of the 71 seats, while the BJP is contesting 29 seats in the first phase of the Bihar Assembly Elections 2020. There are also six state cabinet ministers who will be contesting in phase-1 of the elections in Bihar.

The RJD had fielded candidates in 42 seats, while the Congress is in the fray in 20 assembly segments. Chirag Paswan's LJP is contesting in 41 seats in the first phase. These 41 include all the 35 contested by the JD(U).

There are 952 male candidates, while 114 are women. The maximum number of women candidates in the fray are at Gaya (27), while the least are at Katoria (5).

The prominent candidates include Tej Pratap Yadav, the son of RJD chief, Lalu Prasad Yadav. He is up against Raj Kumar Ray of the JD(U). His brother Tejashwi Prasad Yadav is seeking a re-election from Raghopur and he is up against Satish Kumar of the BJP and Rakesh Roshan of the LJP.

The six state cabinet ministers who are contesting in the first phase are Prem Kumar from Gaya Town, Vijay Kumar Sinha from Lakhisarai, Ram Narayan Mandal from Banka, Krishnanandan Prasad Verma from Jehanabad, Jaikumar Singh from Dinara and Santosh Kumar Nirala from Rajpur.

Shreyasi Singh, the Commonwealth Games gold medalist is making her debut as a BJP candidate from the Jamui seat. She is up against Vijay Prakash of the RJD.