Patna, Oct 17 : The Janata Dal (United) on Friday released its list of 40 star campaigners for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections and submitted it to the Election Commission.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar tops the list, followed by senior party leaders, including Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Bihar cabinet minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Rural Work Minister Ashok Chaudhary, JDU national working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, Nikhil Mandal, Nalanda Lok Sabha MP Kaushalendra Kumar, and JDU chief spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar.

Prominent women leaders have also been included, such as Meena Yadav, Kavita Singh, Kahkashan Parveen and Lovely Anand.

According to a letter signed by JDU National General Secretary Afaq Ahmed Khan, these leaders will spearhead the party's campaign across various constituencies in Bihar.

With the release of this list, the JD(U) has officially launched its election campaign.

A majority of the star campaigners are also contesting candidates.

Under the NDA alliance, JDU and BJP are contesting 101 seats each in the state. Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party Ram Vilas (LJPRV) got 29 seats, while Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), led by Jitan Ram Manjhi and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM), led by Upendra Kushwaha, will contest on six seats each in this election.

The list also features several other key leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Ramnath Thakur, Energy Minister of the Bihar government Vijendra Prasad Yadav, JDU state president Umesh Singh Kushwaha, Shravan Kumar, Manish Kumar Verma, Afaq Ahmed Khan, Saryu Rai, Lok Sabha MP Deveshchandra Thakur, Lok Sabha MP Dileshwar Kamat, Dinesh Chandra Yadav, Harshvardhan Singh, Arun Kumar, and Rampreet Mandal.

Others named in the list are Dr Alok Kumar Suman, Sunil Kumar, Madan Sahani, Ratnesh Sada, Lalan Kumar Saraf, Sanjay Singh, E. Sunil Kumar, Khalid Anwar, Ravindra Prasad Singh, Reena Yadav, Chandeshwar Prasad Chandravanshi, Ram Kumar Sharma, Ramesh Kushwaha, Md. Nematullah, Chandan Kumar Singh, Bharti Mehta, and Dr Shweta Vishwas.

/IANS