The ruling BJP Tuesday sprang surprises with its first list of 71 candidates for the Bihar assembly polls, denying a ticket to Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav, a seven-term MLA, while fielding Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary in a direct election after over a decade.

Health and Law Minister Mangal Pandey, a member of the legislative council, has also been fielded by the party for the assembly polls.

While Choudhary, who had last won an assembly election from Parbatta in 2010 on an RJD ticket, has been fielded from adjoining Tarapur, Pandey has been named the BJP candidate from Siwan.

Notably, both Choudhary and Pandey are former state BJP presidents, and so is Yadav, who has been replaced in Patna Sahib with Sanjay Kumar Gupta, a low-key state secretary of the party.

The 72-year-old speaker of th

See Full Page