Bihar polls: RJD women's wing chief Ritu Jaiswal files nomination as independent; opposes ticket to rival

NEW DELHI: RJD women’s wing state president Ritu Jaiswal on Sunday announced that she will contest the Parihar assembly seat in Bihar as an Independent candidate , protesting the party’s decision of giving the ticket to her detractor.

“I am going to file nomination papers tomorrow as an Independent candidate. The party has signalled that it was willing to accommodate me in another constituency. But that would be a deal against my conscience,” said the 48-year-old, who began her political journey as an educated Panchayat Mukhiya.

In a post on social media Facebook, Jaiswal expressed disappointment that the ticket was given to the “daughter-in-law of Ram Chandra Purve”, a former state president of the RJD, whose “betrayal” she blamed for her narrow defeat from the seat in 2020 by less than 2,000 votes.

She had also contested the Lok Sabha polls last year from the Sheohar constituency, where she lost to Lovely Anand of JD(U) by a margin of less than 30,000 votes.

Married to former civil servant Arun Kumar, who gave up his career to get elected as Mukhiya of the same Singjvahini Panchayat of Sitamarhi that Jaiswal previously headed, she has deep roots in local politics.

Although the RJD has not officially announced its candidates, photos of Purve’s daughter-in-law Smita receiving the party symbol from Tejashwi Yadav, son of national president Lalu Prasad Yadav , have gone viral on social media, fueling speculation about the party’s choices.