E-Paper
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to file nomination for Rajya Sabha today
With Nitish Kumar's possible exit as Bihar CM months after leading the NDA to a landslide victory in 2025 assembly polls, a BJP leader is expected to take over.
Nitish Kumar, Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal-United supremo, will be filing nomination for Rajya Sabha on Thursday, HT has learnt. As a result, Nitish Kumar would be vacating the Bihar CM seat.
Five Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar are slated to the polls on March 16.
The elections have been necessitated by the ending terms of JD(U)'s Harivansh Narayan Singh and Ram Nath Thakur, RJD's Prem Chand Gupta and Amarendra Dhari Singh, and RLM's Upendra Kushwaha.
With Nitish Kumar likely to step down months after leading the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to a landslide victory in the 2025 assembly elections, a BJP leader is expected to take over the top post. Samrat Choudhary and Nityanand Rai are the two probable contenders in the running, according to people familiar with the matter.
If the above happens, Bihar will get its first BJP chief minister - the only Hindi heartland state where the party has not held the office so far.
As per the latest tally in the state legislature, all five seats would now go to the ruling NDA.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), part of the ruling NDA in Bihar, on Tuesday announced nine candidates for the 2026 biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha across six states.
At least three states — Maharashtra, Bihar and Odisha — are likely to see a contest.
From Bihar, where five seats are falling vacant, the BJP fielded party chief Nitin Nabin and state leader Shivesh Kumar. Separately, a JD(U) minister said that chief minister Nitish Kumar’s son, Nishant Kumar, was set to enter politics.
“He will be given a bigger responsibility in the party. What responsibility he is going to get will be decided in a day or two,” an earlier HT report quoted minister Sharwan Kumar as saying. Asked if Nishant can be sent to the Rajya Sabha, Kumar said, “Anything can happen.”
Thursday is the last date of filing nominations for the March 16 elections.
