Patna, March 24 (IANS) The Janata Dal (United) on Sunday announced a list of 16 candidates from Bihar for the Lok Sabha elections.

Bashistha Narain Singh, the national vice president of the party, announced the names at the party's head office here.

The names are: Chandeshwar Prasad to contest from Jahanabad; Kaushalendra Kumar from Nalanda; Lalan Singh, Munger; Ajay Kumar Mandal, Bhagalpur; Giridhari Yadav, Banka; Dr Alok Kumar Suman, Gopalganj; Rampreet Mandal, Jhanjharpur; Dulal Chandra Goswami, Katihar; Dinesh Chandra Yadav, Madhepura); Santosh Kushwaha, Purnea); Dileshwar Kamat, Supaul; Sunil Kumar, Valmiki Nagar; Lovely Anand, Sheohar, Devesh Chandra Thakur, Sitamarhi; Muzahid Alam, Kishanganj; and Vijaylaxmi Kushwaha, Siwan.

The party denied tickets to two sitting MPs -- Sunil Kumar Pintu of Sitamarhi and Kavita Singh of Siwan. The tickets were given to Devesh Chandra Thakur and Vijaylaxmi Kushwaha respectively.

“We have consulted the BJP leaders also and accordingly finalised the names of the candidates,” said Sanjay Jha, the Rajya Sabha MP of JD(U).

“The NDA is united and we smoothly finalised the seat-sharing formula in the state. On the other hand, fight continues in the Mahagathbandhan,” said Lalan Singh, who is contesting the election from Munger.

The JD(U), under the umbrella of NDA, is contesting 16 Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar. Earlier, candidates met with the Chief Minister at his residence on Saturday.

The BJP is contesting 17 seats, the Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas (LJPR) on five, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) on one seat each. / IANS