Nitish Kumar files nomination for MLC poll

Patna, March 5: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar filed the nomination for MLC election in Bihar assembly on Tuesday. The tenure of 11 MLCs including CM Nitish Kumar will end in the first week of May this year. Besides him, other MLCs whose term will expire are Rabri Devi (RJD), Syed Shahnawaz Hussain (BJP), Sanjay Kumar Jha (JD-U), Prem Chandra Mishra (Congress), Santosh Kumar Suman (HAM-S), Mangal Pandey (BJP), Ram Chandra Purve (RJD), Khalid Anwar (JD-U), Rameshwar Mahto (JD-U) and Sanjay Paswan (BJP).

As per the notification of the Election Commission, the nomination for MLC election started on March 4 and the last date for filing the nomination paper is March 11 while candidates can withdraw their names till March 14. The voting will take place between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on March 21 and result will be declared on the same day.

As per the current strength of the political parties in Bihar assembly, six seats are expected to go in favour of NDA while five seats may go to Mahagathbandhan. As JD-U has only 45 MLA in Bihar assembly, it will get a maximum of two seats in Bihar legislative council. One seat is confirmed for Bihar CM NItish Kumar and other seat may go to a leader belonging to minority community.

For Mahagathbadhan, four seats are almost confirmed as per the strength of RJD, Congress and Left parties. As seven MLAs of Mahagathbandhan became rebellions in the past, the contest between these two sides for the fifth seat will be interesting.