Early RS, Council polls set to shift Bihar into top gear till LS elections

The announcement of polls for the Rajya Sabha and legislative council seats is expected to be made within a fortnight, which would mean that the nomination process will have to be held in early February and elections in a week thereafter.

Ahead of the parliamentary polls in the country, Bihar is set to shift into top political gear in the next few weeks amid indications that Election Commission of India (ECI) is likely to announce elections for six Rajya Sabha seats and 11 legislative council seats from the assembly quota in February simultaneously, earlier than scheduled, to ensure that the elections to fill up seats in the two upper houses do not clash with the Lok Sabha polls, according to top election officials.

Among the six Rajya Sabha members whose term is ending is former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi of BJP. (ANI)

The announcement of polls for the Rajya Sabha and legislative council seats is expected to be made within a fortnight, which would mean that the nomination process will have to be held in early February and elections in a week thereafter.

Rajya Sabha term of six members from Bihar is ending on April 2, while 11 members of the legislative council, including chief minister Nitish Kumar and former chief minister Rabri Devi, will retire on May 6.

Top election officials in Bihar said the ECI is contemplating advancing the election schedule for the Rajya Sabha (RS) and the Council by taking recourse to the provision that “election for Council and Rajya Sabha could be held three months in advance from the expiry of the term of the members, unlike any assembly/parliamentary seat election which should be held within six months from the time of vacancy”.

Bihar’s chief electoral officer (CEO) H R Srinivasa declined to comment. “I am not aware of it,” he said.

The six Rajya Sabha MPs from Bihar due to retire on April 2 are — RJD’s Manoj Jha and Ahmed Ashfaque Karim, JD-U’s Bashistha Narain Singh and Aneel Prasad Hegde, BJP’s Sushil Kumar Modi and Congress’s Akhilesh Prasad Singh.

Bihar has total 16 of MPs in the Rajya Sabha.

The 11 legislative council members who term is ending on May 6 are: CM Nitish Kumar, his close aide and minister Sanjay Kumar Jha, Rameshwar Mahto and Khalid Anwar from JD-U, Rabri Devi and Ramchandra Purbe from RJD, Syed Shahanawaj Hussain, Mangal Pandey and Sanjay Paswan from BJP, Prem Chandra Mishra of Congress and Santosh Kumar Suman of HAM(S).

The upper house polls are sure to pose a challenge to both the rival alliances in sharing seats among allies, given the numbers.

As per election officials, winning one seat of Rajya Sabha needs support of 35 MLAs while for winning one seat in legislative council needs the support of 22 MLAs.

In the ruling Grand Alliance in Bihar, which is part of the pan-India Opposition bloc Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), RJD has 79 MLAs, JD-U (45), Congress (19) and three left parties together (16). This means the alliance can easily win four RS seats and seven legislative council seats with some surplus votes in their kitty.

In the rival camp, BJP has 78 MLAs and its ally HAM(S) has four, which means they can win two RS and three Council seats easily.

Political observers say the seat sharing would be a major test of “consensus building ability and bonhomie” among allies in the GA.

D M Diwakar, a Patna-based political observer, said the seat adjustment for the upper house polls would not see much friction as allies in the INDIA bloc, including RJD and JD-U, are now keen on fighting together the upcoming LS polls. “RS and Council polls are fought as per strength of MLAs of respective parties. So it is obvious seats will be allocated accordingly. Of course, there would be some hard bargaining for LS seat adjustment,” Diwakar said.

However, there is buzz that RJD is likely to stake claim on two Rajya Sabha seats and will most likely elect Manoj Jha for a second term.

A JD-U MLC said his party is keen on two Rajya Sabha seats and expects allies, especially RJD, to be accommodative.

Insiders in RJD and JD-U said Council seats would be filled up by keeping in mind the recent caste survey data, which revealed that backward classes constitute around 63% of Bihar’s population while Muslims constitute 19% of state’s 13 crore population.

Congress is said to be keen on one Rajya Sabha seat, though it just has 19 MLAs. Its Bihar unit president Akhilesh Prasad Singh is said to be a front-runner for a second term.

CPI-ML (Liberation), which has the largest representation in the assembly (12 members) among the left parties, is not said to be keen on a seat in the Rajya Sabha or legislative council.

In the opposition camp, BJP leaders said the names of RS candidates would be decided by the central leadership while not much though has been given so far on Council seats. There is heightened curiosity in the political circles as to whether a second term is given to senior leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who has served as deputy CM for long under Nitish Kumar.

RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwary said seat sharing among allies would be done amicably when polls are held.

BJP’s Nikhil Anand said he wasn’t ware of elections being advanced.