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Janata Dal announces fresh batch of candidates

The Janata Dal has announced more candidates for the upcoming poll. And again the name of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Srikant Jena is missing. The Orissa state unit is to decide if and where he will contest from.

The party has left the Bhubaneswar, Aska and Brajarajanagar seats in Orissa to the Left parties. Prime Minister I K Gujral will contest from Jalandhar in Punjab, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda from Hassan in Karnataka, Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan from Hajipur, party president Sharad Yadav from Madheopura and former Union minister Devendra Prasad Yadav from Jhanjharpur, all in Bihar.

Deve Gowda's son H D Kumaraswamy is contesting again from Kanakapura while candidates for seven seats -- Bangalore South, Mangalore, Udipi, Shimoga, Kanara and Bijapur -- has been left to Deve Gowda's discretion.

The party is contesting 33 seats in Bihar, 28 in Karnataka, 23 in Uttar Pradesh, 19 each in Rajasthan and Orissa, 15 in Maharashtra, 11 in Madhya Pradesh, six in Delhi, five in Haryana, three in Himachal Pradesh , two each in Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh, one each in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Lakshwadweep and Manipur.

JD spokesperson Mohan Prakash said the total number of party candidates could touch 180 since the last date for filing nominations is still due in some states.

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