The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar faced a major jolt on Saturday (October 18, 2025) after the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) candidate Seema Singh’s nomination papers were rejected during the scrutiny process in the Marhaura Assembly seat ahead of next month’s election.
Her candidature was rejected due to discrepancies found in her documents submitted before the returning officer. She belongs to Union Minister Chirag Paswan’s party, the LJP (RV), which has got 29 seats under the NDA’s seat-sharing arrangement.
Ms. Singh was among the five candidates whose nomination papers have been rejected. The others are Madhubala Giri of The Plurals Party, Janata Dal (United) rebel Altaf Alam who is contesting as an Independent, Vishal Kumar who is also an Independent, and the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Aditya Kumar.
“Due to a minor mistake this has happened, we have approached ECI and I am sure, it will be resolved soon,” Chirag Paswan said on the cancellation of Seema Singh’s candidature in the Marhaura Assembly seat.
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The 42-year-old Ms. Singh is a well-known Bhojpuri actress who has worked in over 500 Bhojpuri films. She is famous for her item numbers, which she has performed in Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, and Rajasthani films as well.
With the rejection of her candidature, the direct contest in the Marhaura Assembly constituency is now between Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate Jitendra Rai and Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) candidate Naveen Kumar Singh alias Abhay Singh. Polling will take place in the first phase here on November 6.
Sitting Gopalpur MLA Gopal Mandal of the JD(U) filed his nomination as an Independent after his party decided to drop him in this election. Addressing a public meeting after filing his nomination, he broke down in tears, saying, “This is a do-or-die battle. Nitish Kumar was misguided, due to which my ticket got cancelled. I have never done anything wrong and will never do.”
The sitting MLA from Narkatiyaganj, Rashmi Verma, also declared that she would contest the election as an independent, warned the BJP that the 2015 situation could be repeated in the constituency.
After the party had denied her a ticket in 2015, she contested the election as an Independent and defeated the official BJP candidate, Renu Devi. In 2020, the BJP fielded her as its candidate and she was elected. This time, however, the party has denied her a ticket again and fielded Sanjay Kumar Pandey.
Ms. Verma announced that she will file her nomination on October 20, asserting that she will contest the election on the demand of the people of her constituency.
Several BJP candidates also filed their nominations for the second phase of the election. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, and Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha attended the nomination meetings and appealed to people to vote for the NDA candidates.
The BJP candidates who filed their nominations were Sangeeta Kumari from Mohania, Nisha Singh from Pranpur, Sujit Paswan from Rajnagar, Pawan Jaiswal from Dhaka, Ram Singh from Bagaha, Nand Kishore Ram from Ramnagar, Sanjay Pandey from Narkatiaganj, Murari Paswan from Pirpainti, and Trivikram Singh from Aurangabad.
Addressing a public meeting after his nomination in Wazirganj, Mr. Patel said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country is moving forward on the path of development.
“The NDA’s policies are dedicated to the upliftment of the poor, farmers, youth, and women. To continue this journey of development and good governance, ensure a landslide victory for the NDA candidates,” Mr. Patel said.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) also released candidates’ names in all 20 seats allocated to the party in the Opposition’s seat-sharing arrangements. Of the 20, six candidates are from Scheduled Caste (SC) communities. One woman candidate has been named for the Digha Assembly seat.
In comparison to the 2020 election, the party has got two new seats, Rajgir and Pipra. As many as 10 candidates have been repeated, while four are new faces and one candidate has been dropped.
Meanwhile, the JD(U) replaced its Amnour candidate Saba Zafar and instead fielded former Rajya Sabha MP Sabir Ali, who was expelled from the party 11 years ago for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Published – October 18, 2025 08:10 pm IST