The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Thursday said that it will contest the Bihar Assembly polls, and released a list of its 40 campaigners for the upcoming election.

NCP President Sharad Pawar will be the star campaigner for the polls, the party said in a statement.

They will share details of its poll outing in the eastern state soon, it said.

Also read: Bihar polls: CPI (ML) releases list of candidates, Shashi Yadav and Sandeep Saurav nominated

Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik, party MPs Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, Supriya Sule and Fauzia Khan are among the other star campaigners.

Bihar will vote in three phases, October 28 (71 seats), November 3 (94 seats) and November 7 (78 seats), for 243 Assembly constituencies. The votes will be counted on November 10.

In the current assembly, the NDA has 130 seats — Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) has 69, BJP 54, LJP 2, HAM 1 and Independent 4. The combined Opposition has 101 members — RJD 73, Congress 23, Other 5. While 12 seats are vacant, one is with the AIMIM.