Former Maoist Kundan Pahan, who is currently in jail after being accused of killing Janata Dal (United) Minister Ramesh Singh Munda, is contesting the upcoming Jharkhand assembly polls as an independent candidate. Former MLA Gopal Krishna Patar aka Raja Peter who is also an accused in the same case is contesting the elections as well on an NCP ticket.

The BJP named eight more candidates for the Jharkhand Assembly-polls, replacing rebel party leader Saryu Roy with Devendra Singh in the Jamshedpur West-constituency. Peeved at the party for not announcing his candidature so far, Roy, a senior BJP-leader who was also a minister in the Raghubar Das government, had announced that he will fight as an Independent against Das from the Jamshedpur East seat.