File photo of RJD chief Lalu Prasad
Lalu Prasad's first born Misa Bharti will contest the general elections from Patliputra in Bihar, a decision that has caused a senior lawmaker from his Rashtriya Janata Dal to resign in protest.
Misa - who gets her unusual first name from the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), the law under which her father was jailed during Emergency - has been named on a first list on 23 candidates released by the RJD today.
The 37-year-old is the oldest of nine siblings. Lalu Prasad's sons, Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejashwi, are already active in party politics but are both too young to contest elections.
"I have dared to give a party ticket to my daughter on popular demand," Mr Prasad said today.
Ram Kripal Yadav, a Rajya Sabha MP whose name is not on the list, has resigned. In 2009, Mr Yadav had not contested from Patliputra - which was part of his constituency before delimitation - to allow party chief Lalu to contest a second seat.
Lalu Prasad had contested from Chhapra and Patliputra; he had defeated the BJP's Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Chhapra, but lost to Ranjan Prasad Yadav of the Janata Dal (United) in Pataliputra.
This time he is fielding his wife and three-term chief minister of Bihar, Rabri Devi, from Chhapra. Rabri, 54, had lost the 2010 assembly polls in both the constituencies she contested - Raghopur and Sonepur.
Mr Yadav, 65, cannot contest this year's elections as he was convicted last year by a special CBI court in a fodder scam case.
His party will contest 27 of Bihar's 40 seats; the Congress will contest 12 and its ally the Nationalist Congress party or the NCP will contest one.
The two parties had, along with smaller allies, walked away with 29 seats in 2004, when they contested as partners.
In 2009, however, the RJD and the Congress could not agree on seat sharing and contested separately. Both were wiped out - the RJD had won four seats, the Congress two.