All 17 candidates for Bihar seats finalised by BJP; Opposition's Grand Alliance to decide today

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is expected to be the party's candidate from Patna Sahib in place of sitting MP and film star Shatrughan Sinha and from Madhubani it may field sitting MP Hukmdev Narayan Yadav's son, as he has expressed his unwillingness to contest the election.

 New Delhi: The BJP has finalised the candidates for the 17 Lok Sabha seats it will be contesting in Bihar and the names will be announced jointly with the allies, senior party leader J P Nadda said Thursday. The BJP is likely to repeat almost all its sitting MPs barring a few seats including Patna Sahib and Madhubani. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is expected to be the party's candidate from Patna Sahib in place of sitting MP and film star Shatrughan Sinha and from Madhubani it may field sitting MP Hukmdev Narayan Yadav's son, as he has expressed his unwillingness to contest the election. Releasing the first list of the party's 184 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, Nadda said, "The party has also finalised names of all 17 party candidates from Bihar and sent the list to the state unit which will announce it jointly with allies -- JD(U) and Lok Janshakti Party." The BJP which is in alliance with JD(U) and LJP in the state is contesting on 17 seats, its ally JD(U) also has equal number of seats, while the remaining are with the LJP. The BJP in its first released on Thursday announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi again its candidate from Varanasi, party chief Amit Shah from Gandhinagar and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow. Opposition's Grand alliance (mahagathbandhan) on the other hand is likely to finalize its seat sharing formula on Friday. The Lok Sabha elections 2019 will be conducted in seven phases starting from April 11 and will continue till May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.