India, Oct. 15 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday released the first list of 71 candidates for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, naming two sitting deputy chief ministers, 10fresh faces and twoturncoats, and dropping the speaker and twoincumbent lawmakers.

The announcement came amid a churn in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which announced its seat-sharing arrangement over the weekend but has since been stuck in tense talks among allies driving hard bargains. There are threedays to go for the nomination to close for the first phase, when 122 seats go to the polls on November 6. In the second phase, 121 seats will go to the polls on November 11, and the votes will be counted on November 14.

Later in the day, the ...