The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has announced its first list of five candidates for the Jharkhand Assembly elections.

RJD state unit president Abhay Kumar Singh on Monday said as per the list released on Sunday former Jharkhand minister Satyanand Bhokta will be the partys candidate for the Chatra seat.

He said the other four candidates are – Sanjay Singh Yadav (Hussainabad), Sanjay Prasad Yadav (Godda), Suresh Paswan (Deoghar) and Vijay Ram (Chhatarpur).

Bhokta had been the minister in the previous NDA governments between 2000 and 2005. He joined the RJD five months ago from the BJP, RJD general secretary Ashutosh Ranjan Yadav said.

The JMM, the Congress and the RJD had recently announced a pre-poll alliance in the state. As per the agreement the Congress will contest 31 seats, the JMM 43 and the RJD will put up candidates in seven constituencies.

The JMM and the Congress had announced their first list of candidates for the Jharkhand Assembly elections on Sunday.

The Election Commission (EC) on November 6 issued notification for the first phase of Assembly elections in Jharkhand, to be held on November 30. In the first phase, polling will take place in 13 Assembly seats — Chatra, Gumla, Vishunpur, Lohardagga, Manika, Latehar, Panki, Daltanganj, Vishrampur, Chatarpur, Harwah, Hussainabad and Bhavanathpur.

The last date for filing of nomination papers is November 13 and for withdrawing nominations is November 16.

Earlier, on November 1 Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora announced that Jharkhand will go to polls in five phases starting November 30. The other phases of polling will be held on December 7, 12, 16 and 20. Counting of votes polled for the 81-member Assembly will be held on December 23.

The 81-member assembly is currently ruled by Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) with Raghubar Das as its Chief Minister. Last year in December, Raghubar Das became the first Chief Minister in the state to complete four years in the office. On the occasion, he also released the report of his government’s work in the state.

In the last Assembly Elections in 2014, BJP won 35 seats out of total 81 seats and its ally, the AJSU won 17. The Congress was reduced to six seats only.