Pawan Singh to contest Bihar seat after rejecting BJP Asansol ticket

The BJP initially announced Bhojpuri singer-actor Pawan Singh as its candidate for the Lok Sabha seat in Asansol. However, Singh later expressed his inability to contest the election. Instead, he declared that he would run as an independent candidate for the Karakat parliamentary constituency in Bihar.

“I have decided that I will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Karakat, Bihar,” said Pawan Singh.Pawan Singh will face Rajaram Singh of CPI(ML) Liberation, part of the RJD-led grand alliance in Bihar.The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will contest 23 Lok Sabha seats, with the Congress and Left parties fielding candidates for nine and five constituencies respectively, and Mukesh Sahni's Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) contesting in three seats.

The BJP had nominated Pawan Singh for Asansol, but he withdrew his name the next day. Singh's candidature had drawn criticism from the TMC, which alleged that some of his songs were crude and depicted women in a vulgar way.However, Singh later decided to honor his promise to his mother and society by contesting the Lok Sabha polls.

"I will fight the elections to fulfil the promise I made to my mother, my society, and the people," said Singh.

The BJP has replaced Pawan Singh with BJP MP SS Ahluwalia to contest against TMC's heavyweight candidate, Shatrughan Sinha, in Asansol.