PATNA, July 14 -- BJP-led NDA candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha and Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor filed their nomination papers on Monday for the Bankipur assembly byelection scheduled for July 30, ensuring a triangular contest, as RJD's Rekha Kumari had already filed her nomination earlier for the prestigious Patna urban constituency. Neeraj Kumar Sinha filed his nomination at the Patna collectorate in the presence of Bihar chief minister Samrat Choudhary, Bihar BJP president Sanjay Saraogi, MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, JD(U) state president Umesh Singh Kushwaha, LJP (Ram Vilas) state president Raju Tiwari, HAM state president Anil Kumar, Rashtriya Lok Morcha state president Alok Kumar and other senior NDA leaders, said a BJP communique. Ahead of filing his papers, Sinha led a massive roadshow from the BJP state headquarters to the collectorate. Thousands of BJP and NDA workers participated in the procession, which passed through Dak Bungalow Chowk, SP Verma Road, Youth Hostel, Biscomaun, Kargil Chowk and Gandhi Maidan before reaching the nomination venue, throwing city traffic out of gear. Party flags, banners and slogans in support of the BJP and NDA dominated the route, while supporters welcomed the procession with flower showers at several locations. Earlier in the day, Sinha offered prayers at a temple in Rajvanshi Nagar and paid floral tributes at the statue of late Naveen Sinha before reaching the party office to join the nomination procession. BJP leaders described the large turnout as a reflection of public support for the NDA's development agenda and expressed confidence of retaining the Bankipur seat, vacated by its national president Nitin Nabin after his elevation to the Rajya Sabha, necessitating the assembly bypoll Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor also filed his nomination after leading a padyatra from the Scout and Guide Ground to the Patna Collectorate via Kotwali, Dak Bungalow, SP Verma Road, JP Golambar and Gandhi Maidan. The march witnessed the participation of a large number of Jan Suraaj workers, supporters and local residents, with supporters raising slogans of "Ladenge Bankipur, Jeetenge Bankipur" throughout the route. Kishor, who seeks to wrest the BJP bastion vacated by its national president Nitin Nabin a couple of months back, was accompanied by his wife Jahnavi Das, a medical practitioner from Assam. Das chose to be by her husband's side, who is making his political debut. Upon filing his nomination papers, Kishor told reporters, "This is not just my naamankan (nomination) but a call for a political change in Bihar where people with criminal records must give up their chair." Notably, Kishor had been claiming that the bypoll would serve as a "referendum" against the NDA government in Bihar and his victory would compel Samrat Choudhary, the first BJP leader to head a government in the state, who had been named in a murder case in the 1990s, to step down. He asserted that Bankipur was "not the bastion of any party or leader, but of the people," adding that the bypoll was not merely about electing an MLA but about changing Bihar's leadership, holding elected representatives accountable and checking what he termed the BJP's "arrogance." Meanwhile, in a dramatic development, Veena Maanvi, the Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD) candidate from the Bankipur bypoll was arrested, minutes after she filed her nomination papers on Monday. She was later in the evening got bail from the Judicial Magistrate court in Patna, according to reports. Her arrest, however, created a lot of buzz in political circles. The police said a "red warrant" (permanent arrest warrant) was pending against Maanvi in a 17-year-old forgery case registered with Patna's Gandhi Maidan police station in 2009. Maanvi was reportedly not attending the trial in the case, prompting the court to issue a "red warrant" against her that the police executed as soon as she filed her nomination on Monday. After being detained, Veena told the media that she had no information about this matter. She said, "I had come to file my nomination with all the necessary documents as per the guidelines of the Election Commission. As soon as I came out after filing my nomination, the police took me into custody and told me that there was a warrant pending against her related to the Gandhi Maidan old case." She alleged that the action was taken under political pressure. I was not committed any crime and the BJP is doing all this out of fear of defeat, she alleged. City SP (Central) Mamta Kalyani confirmed her arrest told HT that an FIR registered under sections of 418/403 of IPC with Gandhi Maidan police station. Arrest warrants were repeatedly issued against her but she allegedly remained absent from court proceedings. Following her continued non-appearance despite the repeated warrants court had issued a permanent arrest warrant against her. JJD president and former minister Tej Pratap Yadav, the elder son of former chief minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad, termed the arrest a "political conspiracy" and said his party would take the matter to court. The nomination process for the bypoll concluded on Monday, paving the way for an intense contest....