Sri Vijaya Puram, May 26: The Election Commission has scheduled elections for 10 vacant seats in the Bihar Legislative Council, setting the stage for a politically significant contest shaped by vacancies and term expirations.
Polling for all 10 seats will be held on June 18, according to a notification issued by the Election Commission of India, which outlined separate processes for a by-election and biennial retirements within the Upper House of the state legislature.
One of the seats will be filled through a by-election following the vacancy created after Nitish Kumar was elected to the Rajya Sabha. The remaining nine seats are due for regular biennial elections as the terms of their current members conclude on June 28.
The nine outgoing members include Kumud Verma, Ghulam Ghaus, Mohammad Farooq, Bhishma Sahani, Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, Sanjay Prakash, Sameer Kumar Singh, Samrat Choudhary and Sunil Kumar Singh. Among these, the seats earlier held by Samrat Choudhary and Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha are already vacant after both leaders secured election to the Bihar Legislative Assembly.
The Commission has issued separate notifications for the by-election and the nine biennial vacancies, formalising the electoral process for the Upper House seats.
As per the schedule, the notification for the elections will be issued on June 1, with June 8 set as the last date for filing nominations. Scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on June 9, while candidates will have until June 11 to withdraw their nominations.
Polling is scheduled to be conducted between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on June 18, with counting of votes and declaration of results slated for the same day at 5 p.m.
The elections assume significance in the context of the current political composition of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, where the National Democratic Alliance holds a substantial majority with 201 legislators.
Given this numerical strength, the ruling alliance is expected to have a clear advantage in the Council elections. Political observers suggest that the NDA is likely to secure a majority of the seats, with estimates indicating it could win up to nine of the ten seats, while the opposition may have limited scope to capture more than one.
At the same time, discussions within political circles have intensified over the possibility of strategic manoeuvring if the ruling alliance opts to contest all 10 seats. Such a scenario could lead to a competitive electoral contest, drawing parallels with previous high-stakes Rajya Sabha elections in the state.
The Election Commission also indicated that elections for certain Legislative Council seats in Karnataka will be conducted alongside the Bihar polls, though details of those contests were issued separately.
The upcoming election process is expected to play a role in shaping the composition of the Bihar Legislative Council, with the outcome reflecting existing political alignments within the state assembly.
