PATNA, Oct. 27 -- The JD(U) on Sunday took action against rebel party leaders and expelled 16 from the party, including a sitting MLA, and two former ministers. Some of these leaders are contesting polls against official NDA candidates. Those expelled include Narendra Niraj alias Gopal Mandal, sitting MLA from Gopalpur in Bhagalpur district, Sanjeev Shyam Singh, a former MLC contesting the Gurua seat in Gaya district as a candidate of Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party, and former minister Himraj Singh, fighting from Katihar as an Independent. The expulsions were announced in two separate communications issued, one on late Saturday and the other on Sunday, in which the rebel leaders have been charged with "anti-party activities" and violation of the ideology of JD(U). Earlier on Saturday night, the party had expelled 11 leaders. Mandal, who hogged limelight for the wrong reasons, recently staged a sit-in dharna outside the CM house after being denied ticket. Gopal Mandal was replaced by Bulo Mandal, an RJD turncoat after which Gopal Mandal filed his nomination papers as an Independent candidate. The party also dismissed Maheshwar Prasad Yadav, a former MLA from Gaighat in Muzaffarpur who was runner-up in 2020, and his supporter Prabhat Kiran, both of whom have been voicing discontent over the JD(U) ticket going to greenhorn Komal Singh, whose father is a party MLC and mother an MP of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan. Earlier, on Saturday, the party had expelled 11 leaders, including former minister Shailesh Kumar -- 2020 runner-up from Jamalpur in Munger who is fighting as an Independent against JD(U)'s official candidate Nachiketa Mandal, son of former MP Brahmanand Mandal. Besides, former MLAs Shyam Bahadur Singh and Sudharshan Kumar, and ex-MLCs Sanjay Prasad and Ranvijay Singh have been expelled from JD(U). "These expelled leaders were working against the officially declared candidates of the party and other NDA constituents. They were defying our ideology," said a JD(U) leader....