Bihar Election 2025: BJP Second Candidate List Released, Maithili Thakur, Anand Mishra Among 12

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday unveiled its second list of candidates for the Bihar Assembly Election 2025, featuring 12 names cleared by the party’s Central Election Committee. The announcement saw the inclusion of folk singer Maithili Thakur from Alinagar and IPS officer Anand Mishra from Buxar.

BJP Bihar Assembly Election 2025 Second Candidate List

Maithili Thakur’s candidature has been confirmed a day after she joined the BJP on Monday in the presence of state party president Dilip Jaiswal in Patna. “Whatever party assigns me the job, I will do it,” the 25-year-old singer told reporters after formally joining the party.

Thakur, a recipient of the prestigious ‘Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar’ from the Sangeet Natak Akademi in 2021, has performed at numerous national and international festivals along with her brothers, Rishav and Ayachi, gaining prominence through viral social media performances.

Meanwhile, Anand Mishra spoke to news agency ANI about his candidature and remarked, “For me, this is a moment of humility that the party placed its trust in me. and gave me a responsibility. Together with the help of all workers, local leaders and NDA leaders, I will start making an effort to build a new Buxar. I am sure that this is going to be a ground moment. This will not just be an election but it will be with people’s participation…I am very confident about the victory of my party. Our organisation will get to it very strongly. We are 100% sure that we will win here.”

Bihar Assembly Election And BJP’s First Candidate List

Bihar will go to polls in two phases, on 6 and 11 November, with votes to be counted on 14 November. The BJP’s first list, released on Tuesday, comprised 71 candidates and made several notable changes, including denying a ticket to seven-term MLA and outgoing assembly Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav while fielding Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary in a direct election after over a decade.

Health and Law Minister Mangal Pandey, also a legislative council member, has been nominated to contest from Siwan. Meanwhile, Choudhary will contest from Tarapur, having last won an assembly seat from Parbatta in 2010 on an RJD ticket. Yadav, who has served as an MLA since 1995 and was seen as the last surviving heavyweight from his generation, welcomed the party’s decision on social media, stating, “I stand with the decision taken by the BJP. I have no complaints. I welcome the new generation of leadership.”

The BJP has also rewarded several newcomers and party switchers. Ram Kripal Yadav, a former Union minister who joined the BJP in 2014 after parting ways with Lalu Prasad, will contest from Danapur. Former Congress MLA Siddharth Saurav will fight from Bikram after formally joining BJP, while retired civil servant Sujit Kumar Singh and former JD(U) MP Sunil Kumar Pintu have been given tickets from Gaura Bauram and Sitamarhi, respectively.

Several ministers and sitting MLAs, including Renu Devi, Nitin Nabin, Nitish Mishra, and Neeraj Kumar Singh Bablu, have been renominated, though Art and Culture Minister Motilal Prasad has been dropped, with his Riga constituency handed to Baidyanath Prasad. The BJP’s second list includes nine women candidates, among them ace shooter Shreyasi Singh, making a strong statement on gender representation in the elections.