The Election Commission on Friday (February 23) announced biennial polls for 11 seats of Bihar legislative council, including the one belonging to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the terms of which would have ended in two months. Among those whose current tenure ends on May 6 include former chief minister Rabri Devi (RJD) and her party leader Ram Chandra Purve.
The notifications for the elections in the 11 seats will be issued on March 4 and the nomination papers will have to be filed by March 11. The candidates can withdraw their papers by March 14.
The members of the state legislative assembly will cast their votes for the candidates on March 21, and on the same day, the counting of votes will also take place in the evening and shall have to be completed by March 23.
Seats held by various leaders
The BJP holds three of the 11 seats whose representatives are former Union ministers Sanjay Paswan and Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and former state minister Mangal Pandey.
Only one seat, represented by Prem Chandra Mishra, is held by the Congress, which is an RJD ally. The JD(U), headed by the chief minister, held a lion's share.
Besides Kumar, other party leaders whose tenure is about to end include Sanjay Kumar Jha, who recently got elected to the Rajya Sabha.
Besides, terms of JD(U) MLCs Khalid Anwar and Rameshwar Mahto are coming to a close.
One seat is held by Santosh Suman, a minister and son of ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, the founder of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM).
Although HAM does not have an adequate number of MLAs, the seat for Suman was earned by Manjhi in exchange for a tie-up with the RJD in 2018, though the former CM returned to the NDA two years later.
(With PTI inputs)
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