PATNA: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) headed by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced names of its candidates for three Lok Sabha seats in Bihar – Kishanganj, Sitamarhi and Bhagalpur. The party has, however, not made its stand clear on the number of seats it has planned to contest in the state.AAP’s Bihar incharge and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh told TOI that Alimuddin Ansari will contest from Muslim dominated Kishanganj constituency, Raghunath Kumar from Sitamarhi and Satyendra Kumar from Bhagalpur.The candidates were selected by the party’s political affairs committee. AAP had contested 39 of 40 Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar in the last general election held in 2014. However, the party is not in a mood to contest on all seats this time.“Security deposits of many of our candidates were forfeited in the last general election. This time, we have decided to fight the elections with full strength on selected seats only,” Sanjay said.AAP’s additional incharge for Bihar Asutosh Singh Sengar said a meeting would be held in Patna on Thursday to take a final decision regarding the number of seats the party will contest in the state.Since the last date for filing of nomination papers for the first and second phases is March 25 and 26, respectively, it is certain that AAP will not contest on at least seven seats in the state – Nawada, Jamui, Gaya, Aurangabad, Katihar, Purnia and Banka. These constituencies will go to polls in first and second phases.Asked about AAP fighting Lok Sabha election alone in the state despite Kejriwal’s good equation with Grand Alliance leaders, Sanjay said, “In Bihar, we will fight alone. However, our agenda is to defeat NDA. This is the reason why we have decided not to contest on all seats in the state.”

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