University teachers are hardly interested in contesting elections, or being denied the chance to fight one.

There was a time when Patna University teachers used to play a significant role in the state's electoral politics with many of them entering the Assembly. Times have changed now with only a handful joining the poll fray.

Going by the list announced by both the NDA and the Grand Alliance, Patna's BN College chemistry teacher Ramanand Yadav, also a sitting RJD MLA from Fatuha, would contest the election. Also in the fray is Ejya Yadav, head, communicative English department, Patna Women's College, from Mohiuddinnagar constituency. Ejya, who would contest on an RJD ticket, did her studies from Loreto Convent and Notre Dame Academy, Patna. She is pitted against BJP's Satyendra Singh. The BJP holds the seat, at present.

Former state Congress president Ram Jatan Sinha, who was eying a party ticket from Kurtha in Arwal, has been denied to fight this election. The three-time Congress MLA from Makhdumpur in Jehanabad, represented by former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi after delimitation of the seat, has also resigned from the party's primary membership after he was denied a ticket.

Ram Jatan, who was also a minister in the Ram Sundar Das government in 1979, became state Congress president in 2005. Ram Jatan filed his nomination from Kurtha Assembly segment as an Independent candidate today.

He said: "There was a time when Patna University teachers were given much importance in the electoral politics but the trend has changed unfortunately."

Not only Ram Jatan, Magadh Mahila College teacher Suheli Mehta, who contested the 2014 by-election on an LJP ticket from Parbatta in Khargaria district, too has been denied ticket this time. Suheli forfeited her deposit during the contest, which was won by the JDU. This time, however, Pappu Yadav has accommodated Suheli giving her Jan Adhikar Party ticket from Parbatta.

Sources said around a dozen teachers from Patna University were lobbying hard for tickets from parties of their choice this time. Many of these teachers were seen at various party offices trying to win the confidence of leaders.

There was a time when Patna University teachers were seen dominating the state electoral politics. Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, former Magadh Mahila College principal Sukhda Pandey, Patna University personnel management and industrial relations department teacher Sanjay Paswan, Patna MP late Shailendra Nath Srivastava were some of the teachers who established themselves as prominent leaders in the state and the country, too. While Sukhda has been denied a ticket by the BJP from Buxar, Yashwant has shifted his politics to Jharkhand.

Patna College former principal Nawal Kishore Chaudhary said adequate representation of university teachers in the state legislature would prove helpful for the society, as they would work as the "think tank" of the government.