Patna: Union minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi on Tuesday staked claim to one seat in the forthcoming polls to the state legislative council, soon after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the polls to the upper house of the state legislature.
ECI has announced the official schedule for 10 MLC seats, which includes nine regular biennial seats and one by-poll seat. The by-poll will be held on the seat vacated by former chief minister Nitish Kumar following his election to Rajya Sabha.
Talking to reporters, Manjhi said, "Our demand is already there and I am demanding it again today that it will be very good if we get one seat. We should get one seat and we will go to Delhi and talk to the BJP's central leadership about the entire matter. If we get one seat, there will definitely be better coordination in the NDA, and we are always and will always be dedicated to the alliance.”
Manjhi's statement has come at a time when there is an internal churn between the BJP, JD(U) and allies regarding the seat sharing.
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According to the Election Commission, nominations for these seats will be filed between June 1 and June 8, scrutiny will be held on June 9 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is June 11. Polling will be held on June 18, if necessary and the election process will be completed by June 20. All 242 MLAs of the assembly are entitled to cast their votes in the MLC polls. Those currently retiring are JD (U)'s Kumud Verma and Prof Ghulam Ghaus, RJD's Mohammad Farooq and Sunil Kumar Singh, BJP's Bhishma Sahni and Sanjay Prakash alias Sanjay Mayukh and Congress' Sameer Kumar Singh. Apart from these, the elections will also be held on the seats vacated by chief minister Samrat Chaudhary and JD (U)'s Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha on November 16, 2025 after their election to the assembly. The terms of all nine current members end on June 28.
Nitish Kumar's tenure in the Bihar Legislative Council was originally scheduled to end on May 6, 2030. However, following his election to the Rajya Sabha, he officially vacated his state legislature seat and resigned as an MLC on March 30 this year.
