The Congress on Thursday named actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha’s son Luv Sinha as one its candidates for the Bihar Assembly elections.

Luv Sinha’s name appeared in the party’s second list of 49 candidates for the election. He will contest from Bankipur Assembly seat, against three-time Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Nitin Navin. The election to Bankipur will take place in the third phase on November 3.

Luv Sinha is also an actor and has featured in movies like Sadiyaan and Paltan.

Other prominent candidates on the Congress list for Bihar elections include Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav’s daughter Subhashini Raj Rao from Bihariganj and former Lok Janshakti Party leader Kali Prasad Pandey from Kuchaikote.

Advertisement

Bankipur falls under the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency, which Shatrughan Sinha won as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in 2009 and 2014.

Shatrughan Sinha officially joined the Congress in April, 2019. He contested the Lok Sabha elections as Congress candidate from Patna Sahib, but lost to BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Also read:

  1. The Political Fix: Will BJP’s ‘insider trading’ in the Bihar elections leave Nitish Kumar stranded?
  2. Centre allows political gatherings for Bihar Assembly elections, bye-polls with curbs

Bankipur is considered to be a BJP stronghold like Patna Sahib, NDTV reported.

Shatrughan Sinha’s close associate Rajiv Kank told The Print that it would be incorrect to call Patna Sahib a BJP seat. “It is not that Luv is not familiar with Patna,” he said. “In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he camped in Patna and visited every corner of Patna Sahib. It is wrong to attribute Bankipur seat as a BJP seat.”

Elections in Bihar will be held in three phases between October 28 and November 7. The results will be out on November 10. This is the first election to be held in the country during the coronavirus pandemic. The Bihar Assembly has 243 seats, of which 38 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and two for Scheduled Tribes.