Grand Alliance candidates Sharad Yadav, Misa Bharti, Ram Jethmalani file nominations for Rajya Sabha polls

JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, noted lawyer and former BJP MP Ram Jethmalani along with RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti today filed their nomination papers as candidates of ruling alliance in Bihar for Rajya Sabha’s biennial elections. Along with Yadav, Ramchandra Prasad Singh is contesting from JD(U). Jethmalani, who was the law minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government, and Bharti filed their papers as RJD candidates. The Grand Alliance’s five nominees also filed their papers for Legislative Council polls.

Biennial elections are being held to fill five Rajya Sabha and seven Legislative Council seats. Grand Alliance candidates Gulam Rasool Baliyavi, C P Sinha (JD-U), S M Qamar Alam, Ranvijay Singh (RJD) and Tanveer Akhtar (Congress) filed papers for Council polls. Candidates submitted their nomination papers before Bihar Assembly Secretary-cum-Returning Officer Ram Shrestha Rai.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, former Chief minister Rabri Devi, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, JD(U) state chief Bashishtha Narayan Singh, Bihar Congress chief Ashok Choudhary were present at the time of filing of nomination papers in Secretary-cum-Returning Officer’s chamber.

Prasad said that two candidates each from JD(U) and RJD filed their nomination papers for Rajya Sabha while one Congress nominee and two candidates each from JD(U) and RJD filed their papers for Legislative Council polls.

“All the candidates of alliance will definitely win,” he said confidently. On the party’s third candidate, the RJD supremo said that “We (party) will announce the name of third candidate by late evening today.”

May 31 is the last day for filing nominations for these seats, while the scrutiny will take place on June 1. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is June 3. BJP nominee Gopal Narayan Singh for Rajya Sabha and Arjun Sahni for Legislative Council are likely to file their nomination papers tomorrow.

Bihar BJP chief Mangal Pandey yesterday had announced that the party would field its second candidate for Legislative Council polls. If both RJD and BJP field third and second candidates respectively, as they have announced, for the seven-seat Council polls, then the contest will become inevitable for the upper house of the state.

Polling, if necessary, will be held for seven Council seats on June 10 from 9 AM to 4p PM. Polling for Rajya Sabha election, if necessary, will be held on June 11 and counting of votes will be at 5 PM on the same day.

All five Rajya Sabha MPs from Bihar - K C Tyagi, Pavan Kumar Varma, Gulam Rasool, Ramchandra Prasad Singh and Sharad Yadav - are from JD(U) and are set to retire in July.

Members of the Legislative Council who will retire on July 21, 2016 are Uday Kant Choudhary, Kiran Ghai Sinha, Rudal Rai, Vijay Kumar Verma and Harendra Pratap Pandey while two seats fell vacant due to resignation of Bhola Yadav and Manzar Alam.