Be it the ruling Janata Dal-United or Bharatiya Janata Party, or the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal, Lok Janshakti Party and Congress, election time in Bihar proves that blood is thicker than water when it comes to issuing tickets to the kin of politicians.
The ruling JD-U has accommodated the sons of three party leaders -- two MPs and one MLC, party sources said.
The MP sons who have been given tickets are Sanjay Kumar, son of Hajipur Lok Sabha member and former chief minister Ramsunder Das, from Rajapakar in Vaishali district, and Rahul Sharma, son of Jehanabad Lok Sabha member Jagdish Sharma, from Ghoshi in Jehanabad district.
Food minister Narendra Singh's son Ajay Pratap Singh would be contesting from Jamui, a seat that was once represented by his brother Abhay Singh, who committed suicide a few months ago.
Annu Shukla, wife of incarcerated Lalganj MLA, Munna Shukla, would be contesting in his place.
The JD-U has also rewarded Sarfaraj Alam, son of controversial party leader and former Union Minister Md Taslimuddin with a party ticket from Jokihat in Araria district. He replaces sitting party MLA Manzar Alam.
Praveen Amanullah, wife of Principal Secretary Cabinet Coordination Department Afzal Amanullah, will be the JD-U nominee from Sahebpur Kamal.
Ramvilas Paswan's close relative Ramsevak Hazari, who is the father of sitting JD-U Lok Sabha member from Samastipur Maheshwar Hazari, is contesting from Kalyanpur. JD-U has also given ticket to the relative of minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, Jyoti Manjhi from Barachati in Gaya.
RJD too does not lag behind the JD-U in allotment of tickets to sons of its stalwarts.
Firaj Fatmi, son of senior RJD leader and former Union Minister M A A Fatmi, and Rana Randhir, son of former minister in the Rabri Devi cabinet Sitaram Singh, are contesting on RJD tickets from Keoti and Madhuban assembly constituencies, respectively.
Ajit Kumar Jha, son of another former Union Minister Raghunath Jha, is the party's candidate from Sheohar.
Anirudh Prasad alias Sadhu Yadav, former RJD MP and brother-in-law of Lalu Prasad, is to contest on a Congress ticket this time, party insiders said.
Earlier, Sadhu Yadav used to hog media headlines for all the wrong reasons from assaulting a senior IAS officer to firing on JNU students protesting in front of Delhi's Bihar Bhavan.
He had switched over to the Congress to contest from West Champaran during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
Ranjeet Ranjan, wife of incarcerated MP Pappu Yadav, is the Congress nominee from Bihariganj in Madhepura.
Pappu Yadav has been given life sentence in the murder case of CPI-M MLA from Purnia Ajit Sarkar.
The Congress has fielded Vijay Kumar Ram, son of sitting JD-U MP Purnamasi Ram for the Harsidhi seat in East Champaran district. Besides, Anunnaya Kumar Singh, son of another former Union Minister Usha Sinha, is the party candidate from Paroo.
Similarly, LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan has fielded both his brothers Pashupati Kumar Paras and former MP Ramchandra Paswan from Alauli and Kusheshwar Asthan.
BJP too has accommodated Sudhakar Singh, son of RJD MP Jagdanand Singh, in its list. Sudhakar is contesting from Ramgarh, the seat which was held by his father for five times in a row before his election to the Lok Sabha from Buxar in 2009.
