Friday, January 14 2005 12:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Former State unit president Nand Kishore Yadav and party's Chief Whip in the Bihar Assembly Navin Kishore Prasad Sinha were among the 69 candidates whose names were cleared by the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) central leadership in New Delhi for the coming Assembly elections in the State.

After over four-hour-long meeting, the BJP Central Election Committee, attended among others by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and party President L K Advani, cleared the names in consultation with senior State leaders amid vociferous protests outside the party headquarters by aspirants who were denied the ticket.

With yesterday's (Jan 13, 2005) decision, the party has so far cleared 96 names. BJP is contesting 105 seats in the state while its NDA (National Democratic Alliance) ally JD-U (Janata Dal-United) is fielding candidates in 138 constituencies.

The poll panel authorized party President L K Advani to decide on the remaining nine names, party General Secretary Shivraj Singh Chauhan told reporters.

He said the list included 28 from backward classes, nine from most backward classes, 13 from Scheduled Castes, eight women, four professors, 30 youth and 43 farmers.

Supporters of some aspirants, who were denied party tickets, had made loud protests on January 11 too when the first list of 27 names were released.

Some protesters also mobbed the party headquarters and jostled around senior leaders including Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.