Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JDU on Friday announced its candidate for Rupauli assembly constituency, where by-elections have become necessary due to the resignation of multiple-time MLA Bima Bharti.

State JDU president Umesh Singh Kushwaha gave the party ticket to Kaladhar Prasad Mandal, who had contested as an independent against Bharti in the 2020 assembly elections.

Bharti, who had won the seat for the JD(U) for the third consecutive time, left the party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections to contest from Purnia as an RJD candidate.

However, the seat was won by independent candidate Pappu Yadav, while Bharti's deposit was forfeited and he finished third, far behind JDU runner-up Santosh Kushwaha, who had lost after two consecutive wins.

According to Kushwaha, Mandal's candidature has been approved by the "Chief Minister", who is also the JDU national president.

This selection appears to have been due to the high concentration of the extremely backward class of Gangotas in Rupauli, to which Bharati also belonged.

Bharti has indicated that she was not interested in contesting the by-election, but if the RJD decided to field its candidate, she would field a ticket for a member of her family.

RJD has an alliance with CPI, which had contested the seat in 2020. The Left party has announced that it will contest the by-elections.

The last date for filing nominations is June 21 and voting will take place on July 10.