Insaf Times Desk
During the nomination phase of the Bihar Assembly elections on Wednesday, six candidates from the CPI-ML (Bhakpa-Maale) filed their nomination papers. However, the electoral atmosphere was heated when Jitendra Paswan, the party’s candidate from the Bhore Assembly constituency, was arrested. The party has termed the arrest a political conspiracy by the BJP-JD(U) alliance and demanded Paswan’s immediate release.
CPI-ML State Secretary Kunal said, “Our candidates are being targeted under pressure from the BJP-JD(U). This action is aimed at intimidating our leaders and weakening electoral competition.”
With the support of the India Alliance, the CPI-ML candidates who filed nominations today include:
Phulwarisharif: Gopal Ravidas
Digha: Divya Gautam
Tarari: Madan Singh Chandravanshi
Agiyaanv: Shivprakash Ranjan
Dumraon: Ajit Kumar Singh
Bhore: Jitendra Paswan
The party has decided to highlight issues such as social justice, the rights of the poor and backward communities, inflation, and corruption through these candidates.
Immediately after filing his nomination in Bhore, Jitendra Paswan was taken into custody by the police. Party supporters and workers staged a protest at the nomination site.
Police stated that Paswan was arrested based on existing warrants in older cases, while CPI-ML maintains that the arrest is part of a political strategy to suppress opposition.
Paswan had narrowly lost the 2020 Assembly election by around 400 votes. Since then, the party alleges that multiple cases have been filed against him to harass and intimidate him politically.
Candidate Backgrounds
Madan Singh Chandravanshi (Tarari): Leader from the extremely backward community, actively involved in Dalit and poor people’s movements.
Shivprakash Ranjan (Agiyaanv): Leader from student and youth movements, victorious in the 2024 by-election.
Ajit Kumar Singh (Dumraon): Incumbent MLA, popular among locals, actively involved in social work.
Gopal Ravidas (Phulwarisharif): Veteran CPI-ML leader, strong support base among Dalits and marginalized communities.
Divya Gautam (Digha): Former student leader, active in social and cultural activities.
Jitendra Paswan (Bhore): State President of ARVI, continues to fight political battles despite losing narrowly in 2020.
CPI-ML has warned that if Paswan is not released immediately, protests could spread across the state. This incident has the potential to escalate political tensions during the election process.
So far, the BJP-JD(U) alliance has not issued any official statement regarding the arrest.
