Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to expand its cabinet on March 15 ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. According to constitutional provisions, Bihar can have a maximum of 36 ministers, including the Chief Minister. Currently, the state Cabinet has a total of nine ministers including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Among them, Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha are Deputy Chief Ministers. Apart from these, Dr Prem Kumar of BJP, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Shravan Kumar (all three of JDU), Santosh Kumar Suman of HAM and Independent Sumit Kumar Singh have already taken oath as ministers.
Nominations for Legislative Council
Meanwhile, five candidates from the Grand Alliance and three from the BJP are set to file nominations for the Legislative Council on Monday. Representing the RJD, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, Rabri Devi, and senior party leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui have been nominated.
Additionally, RJD spokesperson Urmila Thakur and Syed Faisal Ali will also enroll as candidates. Mangal Pandey, Anamika Patel, and Lal Mohan Gupta will file nominations from the BJP.
Biennial polls for 11 seats
Biennial polls are scheduled later this month for 11 seats of the Upper House, including the one held by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U). Kumar, a BJP ally, filed his nomination papers a few days ago along with fellow JD(U) MLC Khalid Anwar, who has been chosen for a second consecutive term.
Because of its reduced tally in the assembly, the JD(U) gave up its claim on two seats held by it, terms of which were to end in May. One of these seats was held by Sanjay Kumar Jha, who has got elected to the Rajya Sabha. The BJP held three of the 11 seats and by virtue of its current strength in the assembly, it was comfortably placed to win four this time.
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