RJD names six candidates for Bihar legislative council polls amid internal party discord

Bihar's RJD and JD(U) Advance Candidate Selection for Eight Legislative Council Seats

The Rashtriya Janata Dal has named six candidates across Teachers and Graduates constituencies, while the Janata Dal (United) finalises its slate for the Bihar legislative council elections that will determine representation until November 2026.

RJD Fields Six Nominees Amid Internal Discord

The Opposition party announced Sanjeev Kumar Singh for the Patna teacher's constituency and Prof Jairam Yadav for the Saran teacher's seat. For the four Graduates constituencies, the RJD has fielded Dilip Kumar in Patna, Anil Kumar Jha in Darbhanga, Rashmi Vinayak Gautam in Tirhut and Nitesh Kumar in Kosi.

State party president Mangani Lal Mandal said names for the two remaining teacher's constituencies of Darbhanga and Tirhut will be announced soon.

The candidate selection triggered sharp public criticism from within the party's own ranks. Rohini Acharya, daughter of RJD chief Lalu Prasad and a Singapore-based party leader, took a jibe over the selection of candidates. "It is a great insult to give priority to opportunistic faces rather than the dedicated party leaders having ideological allegiance to the party, just before the [council] elections come…" she said in a social media post.

She added that "this decision is not only broken promises to the leaders loyal to Lalu Prasad but, to the ideology of Lalu Prasad, the basic principles of the party and is a grave blow to the strength of party's organization".

JD(U) Moves on Four Seats, Faces Patna Contest

The ruling Janata Dal (United) has decided to contest on four out of the total eight seats and has almost finalised names of its possible candidates for Patna and Tirhut graduate constituencies as Neeraj Kumar and Abhishek Jha. State party president Umesh Kushwaha said the party will officially announce the final list of candidates on all four seats "soon".

A complication has emerged in Patna, where bahubali (heavyweight) party MLA from Mokama Anant Singh has announced his support for Anuj Singh for the council election from Patna Graduate seat, instead of Neeraj Kumar. The party recently called a meeting to resolve the issue between the two leaders but party sources said Mr. Anant later went on throwing weight behind Mr Anuj.

Jan Suraaj Party Eyes All Eight Seats

The newly-launched Jan Suraaj Party by Prashant Kishor has announced its decision to contest the upcoming council poll on all eight seats. State party president Manoj Bharti said "the final decision on the issue will be made after party executive meeting to be held later this month".

The party, led by former poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor, recently won the Bankipur Assembly by-poll in Patna which had been a traditional stronghold of BJP president Nitin Nabin.

Political analyst Nawal Kishore Choudhary said "Due to very small margin of errors in both the Teachers and Graduate constituencies council elections, Jan Suraaj Party could alter the equations this time in poll results".

Electoral Landscape and Timeline

The term of the eight candidates will expire on November 16, 2026 and the dates for elections are likely to be announced by the end of September.

Out of the eight seats getting vacant, NDA has three seats, two are with the mahagathbandhan (grand alliance), while the remaining are with Independent candidates, including Jan Suraaj Party-supported Saran teacher's council seat.

The ruling alliance coalition partner BJP is yet to announce names of the candidates. The other parties are likely to announce names of their candidates soon.

The elections will determine representation across four each for Teachers and Graduates category constituencies.

Source: The Hindu