In Begusarai, Kumar will be pitted against the BJP's Giriraj Singh. An influential upper caste Bhumihar leader, the Union minister has been shifted from his Nawada seat.
The Communist Party of India on Sunday announced the candidature of former Jawaharlal Nehru University students' union leader Kanhaiya Kumar from Begusarai Lok Sabha seat in Bihar, days after the party was left out of the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led opposition alliance in the state.
The CPI, which was expecting to get the seat for Kumar as part of the mahagathbandhan (grand alliance), has now decided to go alone.
"Kanhaiya Kumar will be our candidate from Begusarai seat. The CPI-ML has pledged their support to us too," senior CPI leader D Raja said.
Candidates for two more seats are yet to be finalised by the central leadership, he added.
As part of the seat-sharing pact of the mahagathbandhan , the Communist Party of India-Marxist–Leninist Liberation, the biggest Left party in Bihar, got one seat from the Rashtriya Janata Dal's share of 20.
In Begusarai, Kumar will be pitted against the BJP's Giriraj Singh. An influential upper caste Bhumihar leader, the Union minister has been shifted from his Nawada seat.
The mahagathbandhan is yet to announce its candidate.
Kumar came into limelight after the 2016 Jawaharlal Nehru University sedition controversy. The student leader, accused of raising anti-India slogans on the varsity campus with nine others, has been charged with sedition by the Delhi Police.
On Saturday, the Congress and the RJD announced their seat-sharing arrangement in Bihar.
According to the alliance arrangement, the RJD will contest on 20 seats, the Congress on 9 seats, Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular on 3 seats, the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party on 5 , the Vikasheel Insaaf Party on 3 seats and the CPI on one seat in Bihar.
Bihar will see polling in seven phases.
The dates of polling in Bihar will be on April 11, 18, 23, 29 and May 6, 12 and 19.
The counting of votes will take place on May 23.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the RJD won only four seats and the Congress two.
The Janata Dal-United, which contested separately, won two seats.
The BJP-led NDA won 31 seats, with the former's tally being 22.
With inputs from ANI
