Bihar: Prashant Kishor names ex-vice chief of army staff as Tarari bypoll candidate

Patna: Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party on Wednesday named former vice chief of army staff, Lieutenant General Krishna Singh, as its candidate for bypoll to Tarari assembly seat in Bihar.

The announcement came at a press conference addressed by Kishor, a political strategist-turned-activist, and the party's working president Manoj Bharti, a retired diplomat-turned-politician, among others.

Kishor disclosed that the fledgling party would name its candidates for three other seats, where bypolls are due next month, within a few days, even as he asserted that the candidature of Lt Gen Sinha, "the only vice chief of army staff from Bihar besides late S K Sinha", was a matter of pride for Tarari which had become "synonymous with illegal sand-mining and other mafia".

Notably, bypoll has been necessitated for the seat falling in Bhojpur district following the election to Lok Sabha of Sudama Prasad, a CPI (ML) leader whose party is a part of the opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc.