The stage is set for the bypolls to four Assembly constituencies in Bihar, being billed as the semi-final before the full-fledged state elections next year.

The ruling NDA and the Opposition INDIA announced their candidates on Sunday.

The four Assembly seats — Imamganj, Belaganj, Tarari and Ramgarh — will vote on November 13. They fell vacant in June after their representatives got elected to theLok Sabha.

Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party will make its debut in this election.

“The bypolls to four seats is important because it precedes the Bihar Assembly elections next year. The main contest will be between the NDA and INDIA. Though Prashant has fielded good people as Jan Suraaj candidates, they do not matter much in the eyes of the voters,” RJD vice-president and socialist leader Shivanand Tiwari told The Telegraph.

“Though the Assembly elections are still a year away, the winner will strive to keep reminding the people about the victory. The results will give a psychological edge to the victorious parties,” Tiwari added.

The BJP has fielded Vishal Prashant from Tarari and Ashok Kumar Singh from Ramgarh. Chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JDU has chosen former MLC Manorama Devi, while Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has given the Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular (HAMS) ticket to daughter-in-law Deepa Manjhi from Imamganj. Deepa is the wife of Bihar minister Santosh Kumar Suman.

Vishal is the son of former muscleman MLA Rajan Tiwari.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had raided Manorama’s residence and other premises in September in connection with a probe against the Maoists, and had recovered ₹4.3 crore in cash and otherincriminating materials.

Manorama is pitted against Jehanabad RJD MP and muscleman Surendera Yadav’s son Vishwanath Kumar Singh. It will be a challenge for Surendra to get his son elected from the seat he vacated after winning the Lok Sabha polls, and keep his strongman tag intact.

RJD Bihar president and former minister Jagadanand Singh’s younger son Ajit Singh is the candidate from Ramgarh. The seat fell vacant after his elder son Sudhakar Singh got elected to the Lok Sabha. The party has fielded Raushan Kumar Manjhi aka Rajesh Manjhi from Imamganj to take on Deepa Manjhi of HAMS.

Raju Yadav of the CPIML will contest the Tarari seat vacated by Ara MP Sudama Prasad. The constituency has a sizable number of Yadav voters and has been a fertile ground for the CPIML’s Left-wing politics for the last several decades.

Prashant’s JSP has so far announced candidates to three of the four seats. Lieutenant general (retired) Sri Krishna Singh, who was the vice-chief of the Army Staff from 2011 to 2013 as the candidate from Tarari. Mathematician and professor Khilafat Hussain and doctor Jitendra Paswan will contest from Belaganj and Imamganj constituencies, respectively.