Bihar

Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday filed his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha bypoll in Bihar in presence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The bypoll has been necessitated after Mr. Paswan’s Cabinet colleague and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad gave up his Seat upon his election to the Lok Sabha.

Apart from Nitish Kumar, Union Minister of State for Home and State BJP chief Nityanand Rai accompanied Mr. Paswan to the Vidhan Sabha premises where the LJP president filed his nomination.

Mr. Paswan had not contested the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls, leaving his pocket borough Hajipur for his younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras and the latter retained the Seat for the LJP. He was re-inducted in the Narendra Modi cabinet on May 30.

The last date for filing of nominations for the Rajya Sabha bypolls, being held in three States, is June 25 and scrutiny will take place the following day. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is June 28 while polling and counting of votes will be held on July 5.

The NDA in Bihar, comprising the BJP, JD(U) and LJP, has a comfortable majority in the State Assembly and Mr. Paswan’s election to the Rajya Sabha is therefore being seen as a foregone conclusion.

While announcing the Seat-sharing arrangement in the Bihar NDA for the general elections it was said that Mr. Paswan will be sent to the Rajya Sabha from wherever the first election is held.