Former CM & HAM leader Jitan Manjhi to be NDA candidate from Bihar's Gaya seat

Patna: Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi will be the NDA's candidate from the Gaya Lok Sabha seat, his party Hindustani Awam Morcha announced.

According to a statement issued by the party's central office at Gaya on Thursday, the candidature of Manjhi was approved by his son and state minister Santosh Suman, who is the national president of the party founded by his father.

Notably, the NDA had earlier this week announced its seat-sharing formula in Bihar, where the BJP has got the lion's share of 17 seats, followed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) which will contest 16.

Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has been given five seats while Manjhi's party has got Gaya, and Karakat has been assigned to former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Morcha.

Manjhi is the MLA from Imamganj which is in Gaya district but is part of the Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency.

Just a few months shy of 80, the veteran leader had of late been showing reluctance to fight a direct election and expressing the wish that he be considered for a Rajya Sabha berth or a gubernatorial assignment.

His candidature was announced on a day the opposition RJD gave tickets for all four seats, including Gaya, where polls are scheduled in the first phase.

Former minister Kumar Sarvajeet, the 49-year-old sitting MLA from Bodh Gaya and son of late Gaya MP Rajesh Kumar, has been given the party ticket for the Lok Sabha seat by RJD president Lalu Prasad.

While it will be Sarvajeet's maiden parliamentary election, Manjhi has been trying his luck from Gaya since 2014 when he was the JD(U) candidate but finished third.

In 2019, he fought on his own party's symbol but lost to the JD(U) candidate by a margin of more than 1.5 lakh votes.