Lok Janshakti Party National President Chirag Paswan said on Tuesday that his party will contest the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections on its own. In a tweet, Paswan said the party will field candidates on 50 out of 81 seats, and the first list will be announced by Tuesday evening.

The Lok Janshakti Party is a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance at the Centre. Chirag Paswan’s father Ram Vilas Paswan is the Union minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution.

Meanwhile, All Jharkhand Students Union released its first list of 12 candidates on Monday, leading to confusion as it fielded candidates in three constituencies where its alliance partner BJP has also announced candidates, IANS reported. There is no clarity in the seat-sharing agreement between the two parties.

In its first list, AJSU announced candidates for Silli, Ramgarh, Lohardaga, Hussainabad, Gomia, Barkagaon, Chandankiyari, Jugsalai, Simaria, Chakardharpur and Sindri Assembly seats. BJP released its first list of candidates for the polls on Sunday and announced names for Simaria, Chakardharpur and Sindri seats.

Reports said the AJSU asked for 19 seats to contest in Jharkhand, but the BJP is not willing to give more than nine seats.

The Jharkhand Assembly elections for all 81 seats will be held in five phases from November 30 to December 20 and the votes will be counted on December 23. The Congress announcedfirst list of candidates for the polls on Sunday and the second list on Monday.

In the 2014 Jharkhand elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party won 37 seats and the Jharkhand Mukti Morchi led by Hemant Soren bagged 18 seats. The Congress won six seats. As many as six MLAs of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (P) joined the BJP to form a majority government.

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