Daijiworld Media Network - Muzaffarpur

Muzaffarpur, Sep 26: Jan Suraaj Party’s candidate for the Tirhut Teachers’ constituency, Bhushan Jha, has quit the party and announced that he will contest the upcoming Bihar Legislative Council election as an independent candidate, barely a day after being named as the party’s nominee.

Jha’s decision came after a review meeting held at a hotel in Muzaffarpur’s Madipur on September 25 in the presence of Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor. Jha alleged that teachers supporting him were stopped from recording the meeting while he was putting forward his views. He also alleged that he was being asked to speak in line with decisions already taken by the party.

Jha said he found the treatment objectionable and, following discussions with fellow teachers, decided to leave Jan Suraaj and contest the election independently.

Jan Suraaj had announced Jha as its candidate for the Tirhut Teachers’ constituency on September 24, along with Anuj Singh for Patna Graduates and Vimohan Kumar for Tirhut Graduates. The announcement completed the party’s original list of candidates for all eight Bihar Legislative Council constituencies going to polls.

The other Jan Suraaj candidates are Divya Jyoti from Patna Teachers, SP Rai from Darbhanga Teachers, Ravindra Yadav from Darbhanga Graduates, Rajnish Ranjan from Kosi Graduates and Afaque Ahmed from Saran Teachers.

With Jha now deciding to contest as an independent, Jan Suraaj is expected to name a replacement candidate for the Tirhut Teachers’ seat.

The Election Commission has scheduled polling for the eight Bihar Legislative Council seats on October 23, with counting on October 27. The notification will be issued on September 29, while the last date for filing nominations is October 6.