Kanhaiya Kumar files nomination as CPI candidate from Begusarai

Begusarai, Apr 09: Former JNU students' union leader Kanhaiya Kumar filed his nomination as Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate from Bihar's Begusarai constituency.

Kanhaiya, who is contesting the poll on CPI ticket, is up against Union minister Giriraj Singh. Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has fielded Tanveer Hassan from the constituency which once was considered to be a Left citadel.

Popular youth leader Kanhaiya Kumar was widely anticipated to be the Mahagathbandhan candidate for the constituency. When the RJD decided to field MLC Md. Tanveer Hasan instead - a candidate who had lost in 2014 to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - many felt disappointed. Since the announcement of Kanhaiya Kumar's candidature by the CPI, however, spontaneous support has poured in from all sections of the Begusarai electorate.

The JNU scholar was arrested on charges of sedition in 2016 after anti-national slogans were raised during an event organised on campus to remember Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. The Delhi Police had in January this year filed a chargesheet against Kanhaiya Kumar and others for supporting the event.

In 2014, BJP's Bhola Prasad Singh defeated RJD's Tanveer Hassan by over 60,000 votes.