India, Oct. 26 -- The Janata Dal-United (JD-U) on Sunday expelled 16 rebel leaders, including an MLA and two former ministers, from the party. Some of these leaders are contesting polls against official NDA candidates in the upcoming assembly election in the state.

Those expelled included Narendra Niraj alias Gopal Mandal, MLA from Gopalpur in Bhagalpur district, Sanjeev Shyam Singh, a former MLC who is contesting the Gurua assembly seat in Gaya district as the candidate of Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party, and former minister Himraj Singh, who is fighting from Katihar as an Independent.

The expulsions were announced in two separate communications issued by the party, one on late Saturday and the other on Sunday, in which the rebel le...