BJP announces 40 star campaigners for Bihar Assembly elections

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday unveiled a list of 40 star campaigners for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, featuring top leaders such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP National President JP Nadda.

The list also includes Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and Textile Minister Giriraj Singh.

Prominent BJP chief ministers are part of the campaign team as well, including Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Adityanath, Assam’s Hemanta Biswa Sarma, Delhi’s Rekha Gupta, Madhya Pradesh’s Mohan Yadav, and Maharashtra’s Devendra Fadnavis.

The list brings back leaders who have been away from the political spotlight, including former Union cabinet minister Smriti Irani, along with former central ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Radha Mohan Singh, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, and Ashwini Kumar Choubey. Bihar’s deputy chief ministers Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, former deputy CM Renu Devi, and several state ministers are also included.

Other notable names on the list are Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Union Water Minister CR Patil, Dr. Dilip Kumar Jaiswal, Prem Kumar, Nityanand Rai, Satish Chandra Dubey, Raj Bhushan Choudhary, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Dr. Sanjay Jaiswal, Vinod Tawde, Babulal Marandi, Pradeep Kumar Singh, Gopaljee Thakur, and Janak Ram.

Adding a touch of entertainment, prominent Bhojpuri film personalities turned politicians, including Pawan Singh, Manoj Tiwari, Ravi Kishan, and Dinesh Lal Yadav “Nirahua,” have also been named as campaigners.

The first phase of the Bihar assembly elections sees nominations closing on October 17, with polling scheduled for November 6. The second phase of voting will take place on November 11, and results will be declared on November 14.

Earlier, the BJP released its third list of candidates, featuring 18 names. Its alliance partner, Janata Dal (United), released its second list of 44 candidates, bringing its total to 101 along with the BJP. Other NDA allies, including Rashtriya Lok Morcha and Hindustani Awam Morcha, have declared six candidates each, while the Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas), led by Chirag Paswan, is yet to announce candidates for several seats.

While the NDA is gearing up for campaigning, the Mahagathbandhan is still finalizing its seat-sharing arrangement. Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Bihar Legislative Assembly Opposition Leader Tejashwi Yadav filed his nomination from Raghopur constituency on Wednesday.