PATNA, Oct. 16 -- A day after uproar over ticket distribution, some nominees even getting party symbols and many of them filing their nominations, the Janata Dal (United) on Wednesday released the first list of 57 candidates, with several ministers like Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Sharwan Kumar, and Madan Sahni finding names in the list in a sound amalgamation of rookies with veterans and a touch of social engineering. The list seeks to blend old and new faces and as well a mix of Kori-Koeri and other caste groups, that in local parlance known as "Lav-Kush" social equation. The list has 27 new faces, but there is no Muslim. Ministers Ratnesh Sada and Maheshwar Hazari also featured on the list.The list also includes turncoats like Shyam Rajak, who returned to the party, quitting RJD about a year ago, and don-turned politician Anant Kumar Singh, who had filed nomination papers from the Mokama assembly seat on Tuesday.JD(U) state unit president Umesh Kushwaha has also been fielded from the Mahnar seat.Kushwaha also filed his nomination papers on Tuesday. According to the list, Madan Sahni has been fielded from the Badaurpur assembly seat, Ratnesh Sada from Sonbarsa, Maheshwar Hazari from Kalyanpur, Vijay Kumar Choudhary from Sarairanjan, and Shrawan Kumar from Nalanda. LJP(RV) was said to be eying Sonbarsa, Morwa, Ekma and Rajgir, but Jd-U has gone ahead with its candidates on those seats. LJP(RV)'s list of 14, out of 29 seats it has got, released late evening didn't include any of them. In the first list, four seats have gone to women, including Komal Singh (from Gayaghat), daughter of LJP-R MP Veena Singh and JD(U) MLC Dinesh Singh in an apparent indication that JD-U and LJP-R have buried past differences and moved ahead as part of the NDA. This is significant because JD(U) minister Maheshwar Hazari was eying the same seat for his son. Last time he had lost the race to his cabinet colleague Ashok Choudhary, who managed the Samastipur Lok Sabha seat ticket from LJP(RV) for his daughter Shambhavi Choudhary, who won. The new faces include Rahul Singh (Dumraon), Atirek Kumar (Kusheshwar Asthan), while JD(U) managed to take the Matihani seat for Rajkumar Singh, who won on the LJP-R ticket in 2020 but later switched over to Nitish's party. "The candidates' names have been released after approval of JD(U) president Nitish Kumar," said the list at the very beginning, issued by party state general secretary and headquarters in-charge (establishment) Chandan Kumar Singh. The list includes some new faces on seats swapped with the BJP and LJP, viz. Bikram, Barauli, Matihani etc., while retaining the sitting members and present ministers. The list has kept into account the social equation, with focus on Lav-Kush and extremely backward classes. There are 10 seats for Scheduled Caste candidates and four for women . An important aspect of the ticket distribution is 27 new faces, while 19 previous winners have been retained. There are also 11 candidates who lost last time in JD(U)'s worst ever performance, but have managed to find favour. The surprising feature of the list is the absence of Muslim. In 2020 polls, three Muslims were fielded in the constituencies cleared on Wednesday -- Kanti, Dumrao and Darbhanga Rural.However, party leaders said that the second list would also come out within a day or two. The absence and presence of certain faces, social groups ans swapping of seats with alliance partners is believed to be fomenting dissension within the ruling party. But JD(U) working president Sanjay Jha dismissed such speculations, terming it an attempt of a hapless Opposition. "Chief minister Nitish Kumar will launch the poll campaign from Samastipur and Darbhanga on Thursday and that should be enough to silence the Doubting Thomases," he said. Jha said there was total clarity in the NDA and the JD(U). "No decision in the JD-U is possible without the knowledge and consent of Nitish Kumar. He is the face of NDA. But he is a democratic person, not autocratic. He believes in debate and discussion, but every party decision has his approval," said Jha. A senior JD(U) leader said that JD(U) being a key ally of the NDA had everything sorted out amicably with the BJP, including the seat swaps, but when so many seats have to be decided, there can always be some unease to some candidates. "In the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, when JD(U) contested in an alliance with the RJD, both contested 101 seats each. The same number JD(U) is contesting this time and everything is in the knowledge of the CM," he added. He said JD(U) swapped some sitting seats with the BJP to accommodate key leaders. While it left its sitting Tarapur seat for BJP leader and Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary, BJP's sitting Kahalgaon seat is set to go to JD(U)'s Shubhanand Mukesh, son of former Bihar Congress president Sadanand Singh, who had joined JD(U) in 2021 after failing to retain the seat his father had represented eight times. Similarly, there is also a likelihood of swap on the Karakat, Dinara, Sasaram, Barauli and Gopalganj seats to set the equation right and the final picture would be reflected in the second list....