Bihar MLC polls on June 18, bypoll on Nitish Kumar's seat on same day

The Election Commission has announced elections for 10 seats in the Bihar Legislative Council, including one by-election, with voting scheduled to take place on June 18. The by-election will be conducted for the seat vacated after former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar moved to the Rajya Sabha, while elections will also be held for nine seats whose terms are set to expire on June 28. The official notification for the elections will be issued on June 1, nominations can be filed until June 8, scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on June 9, and June 11 has been fixed as the final date for withdrawal of nominations. Voting will be conducted from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM on June 18, and the results will be declared the same day at 5:00 PM.

The nine seats going to polls are currently held by Dr. Kumud Verma, Prof. Ghulam Ghaus, Mohammad Farooq, Bhishma Sahni, Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, Sanjay Prakash, Sameer Kumar Singh, Samrat Chaudhary, and Sunil Kumar Singh. Among these, the seats of Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary and Planning and Development Minister Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha have already fallen vacant after both leaders were elected as Members of the Legislative Assembly in the recent Assembly elections. Separate notifications have been issued for the by-election on Nitish Kumar’s vacant seat and for the elections to the remaining nine seats.

According to the current political composition of the Bihar Assembly, the NDA holds 201 MLAs, placing the alliance in a strong position in the Legislative Council elections. Political discussions have intensified regarding the distribution of seats among parties within the alliance as well as the opposition’s strategy for the polls. Elections for Legislative Council seats in Karnataka are also scheduled to be conducted simultaneously with the Bihar elections as per the Election Commission’s announcement.