Janata Dal (United) released the list of candidates for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections in a press conference on Wednesday. One name that surprised everyone was Kumari Manju Varma, who is one of the accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape cases, The New Indian Express reported.

Varma has been given the ticket albeit she was jailed in the shelter home case. She will contest the elections from Cheria-Bariarpur Assembly segment in Begusarai, from where she had won the elections twice in 2010 and 2015.

Varma and her husband were booked under the Arms Act case after CBI recovered a huge stock of arms and ammunitions at her residence. She denied all the charges on her at the trials and also escaped the arrest for three months after which she surrendered to the police.

With the new guidelines of Election Commission in place, the party will now have to justify within 48 hours as to why have they selected a candidate with a criminal background.

The party will have to state the reasons for selection on all its social media handles and also will have to mention it to the Election Commission.

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