Patna:

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Tuesday formally announced its candidates for all but one of the 23 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, where it is contesting from the opposition Mahagathbandhan.

Party president Lalu Prasad’s daughters Rohini Acharya and Misa Bharti are among the RJD’s nominees.

According to an evening press release issued by RJD state president Jagdanand Singh, Ms Acharya will contest against Saran, whom her father has won multiple times.

Lalu Yadav represented the seat until he was disqualified in 2013 after being convicted in a fodder scam.

His eldest daughter Ms. Bhatti, who is enjoying her second term in the Lok Sabha, will try her luck in the Patriputra Lok Sabha constituency.

A party worker said the candidate for Siwan, where the RJD had fielded the late Mohd Shahubuddin for years, has not yet been announced. After Sahubuddin was disqualified, his widow Hina could no longer win the seat.

It is understood that Hina had a tense relationship with Lalu Prasad and his family.

Under the seat-sharing arrangement among the Mahagathbandhan partners, the RJD retained 26 of Bihar’s 40 Lok Sabha seats, nine of which were reserved for the Congress and five for Left parties.

The RJD last week struck a deal with former Bihar minister Mukesh Sahni, whose Vikashsheel Insaan party got three seats from its quota.

The RJD announced a list of candidates for 22 seats at once, of which five seats have been scheduled for voting in the first two phases and party nominees have submitted nomination papers.

Sudhakar Singh got an RJD ticket from Buxar Lok Sabha seat, while Ali Asharaf Fatmi will contest from Madhubani Madhubani seat and Surendra Prasad contesting from Jehanabad seat.

Also on the list is Anita Kumari Mahto from Munger, who got a party ticket after tying the knot with feared gangster Ashok Mahto.

Ms. Mahto has political ambitions but cannot run on her own because he has been convicted in a criminal case.

It is learned that the list of candidates including Ms Acharya, Ms Bhatti, Sudhakar Singh, Ali Asharraf Fatmi and Surendra Prasad had earlier been awarded RJD Approval from top leaders.

Other RJD candidates include Kumar Sarvjeet (Gaya), Shrawan Kumar Kushwaha (Nawada), Bima Bharti (Purnea) and Archana Ravidass (Jamui). All four have submitted nominations.

The RJD has also nominated Jai Prakash Yadav from Banka, Lalit Yadav from Darbhanga and Chandrahas Chaupal from Supaul.

The party fielded Vijay Kumar Shukla from Vaishali, Abhay Kumar Kushwaha from Aurangabad, Shichandra Rai from Hajipu and Shahnawaz Alam from Araria.

Alok Kumar Mehta will contest on RJD ticket from Ujiyarpur, Arjun Ai from Sitamarhi, Deepak Yadav from Valmikinagar, Ritu Jaiswal from Seohar and Kumar Chandradeep from Madhepura.

The Lok Sabha elections in Bihar will be held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1, with 40 seats to be elected.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)