Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraj Party announces candidates for by-elections on four seats

The by-elections are scheduled to be held on November 13. 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 INDIA bloc.

Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraj Party on Wednesday announced the names of the candidates for the by-elections which is to be held on four seats  — Tarari, Ramgarh, Belaganj and Imamganj assembly seats — of Bihar. Jansuraj Party has fielded retired Lieutenant General SK Singh from the Tarari seat.

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. 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.

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 INDIA bloc. Speaking on the occasion, Lt. Gen. Singh said he was "not happy" with the Agniveer scheme which, incidentally, had met with stiff opposition when it was rolled out a couple of years ago. The former army vice chief was of the opinion that a four years' contract would come in the way of "regimentation, which denotes a jawans' devotion to the regiment in which he spends a lifetime of service to the nation".