The battle for Rajya Sabha elections in Bihar has become exciting. Elections are being held here for 5 seats and there are 6 candidates in the fray. Out of these, 5 candidates are from NDA, which includes Nitish Kumar and BJP President Nitin Naveen. There is one candidate from RJD. Its future depends on AIMIM.
According to Bihar Assembly Secretary Khyati Singh, none of the six candidates withdrew their nomination papers and voting has been required for the first time in the state after more than a decade. There will be a tough contest for one seat in the state, as RJD has again nominated businessman-turned-politician Amarendra Dhari Singh as its candidate. NDA candidates from Bihar include Union ministers Ramnath Thakur and Upendra Kushwaha and Shivesh Kumar.
There are 5 seats in Bihar. 41 votes are required for one seat. NDA has 202 MLAs. To win all five seats it needs 205 votes. At the same time, the Grand Alliance has 35 MLAs. AIMIM has 5 MLAs and one MLA is from BSP. If they come together then the opposition can get one seat. But if cross voting takes place then the grand alliance may have to face problems.
RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Tuesday called a meeting of Grand Alliance MLAs to discuss the alliance's strategy for the elections. Talking to the media after the meeting, Tejashwi said, it was a very positive meeting. Rajya Sabha elections are approaching and we are confident that we will win. We have enough numbers, that is why we are contesting the elections. Three Congress MLAs could not attend the meeting due to various reasons. The three MLAs had given this information to the party.
AIMIM has 5 MLAs in the Assembly and it is not clear whom they will support. Iman said that AIMIM has not yet decided whom it will support in the Rajya Sabha elections. He said that six candidates are contesting on five seats from Bihar, which means that voting will be necessary. He said, if there were five candidates, the election would not have taken place. Now there are six, so voting will take place and we are assessing the situation.
Referring to the meeting held with Tejashwi Yadav a few days ago, Iman said that the RJD leader had contacted AIMIM for support. According to him, AIMIM had emphasized that it does not have representation in the Upper House and it expects cooperation. Iman further said that Tejashwi Yadav had promised further talks after returning from Delhi, but no follow-up meeting took place. According to reports, AIMIM is demanding MLC seat in return for supporting the opposition candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections.
Everyone is keeping an eye on who the BSP is with in this election. The party's lone MLA Satish Kumar Singh Yadav said that the party's high command will decide which alliance's Rajya Sabha candidate the BSP will support. NDA has 202 MLAs in Bihar Assembly and it has majority. However, the NDA is three members short of winning all five Rajya Sabha seats. Whereas, the Grand Alliance needs six MLAs to win the Rajya Sabha seat.
