Election For 5 Bihar Legislative Council Seats On March 31

Biennial elections to four seats of the Bihar legislative council, and by-poll to another constituency necessitated by the death of the member, will be held later this month, the Election Commission said today.

According to an Election Commission release, all the five seats are of graduates and teachers constituencies, for which notifications will be issued on March 6 and filing of nominations will take place on March 13.

Polling will take place on March 31, while counting of votes is scheduled for April 5.

Tenure of the four seats to which biennial elections are being held, was to expire in May. Three of these are held by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and one by the BJP, now in the opposition.

The JD(U) members are Sanjeeva Shyam Singh (Gaya Teachers), Sanjeev Kumar Singh (Koshi Teachers) and Virendra Narayan Yadav (Saran Graduates).

The lone BJP MLC is Awadhesh Narain Singh (Gaya Graduates), who is also a former chairman of the legislative council.

In addition, by-poll will be held to Saran Teachers' constituency, which has fallen vacant upon the death of CPI MLC Kedar Nath Pandey.

The Upper House has a total number of 75 seats. Its members are drawn from assembly, local bodies, teachers and graduates besides those nominated by the Governor upon recommendation of the state government.

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