Nitish Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi file papers for MLC polls

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi and their cabinet colleague Mangal Pandey were among the seven candidates, who filed their papers for the April 26 biennial election to the Bihar Legislative Council on Monday, the last day for filing of nominations.

Both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal-United (JD-U), had announced their three candidates each on Sunday.

The other candidates from the ruling alliance are Sanjay Paswan (BJP), Rameshwar Mahto and Khalid Anwar (both JD-U). While Paswan was a former union minister, all three of them will be fresh faces in the Council. Mangal Pandey holds the health portfolio in the state.

From the Opposition, Congress leader Premchand Mishra filed his candidature on Monday. The Congress is a party of the Grand Alliance in Bihar, comprising Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S).

Bihar Assembly Secretary Ram Shresth Rai, also the returning officer for the polls, accepted all nomination documents.

Earlier on April 13, the former CM and RJD vice-president Rabri Devi, along with Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son Santosh Suman alias Santosh Manjhi, state RJD president Ram Chandra Purbe and RJD’s former Nalanda district president Khurshid Mohsin, had filed their candidature as the Opposition nominees.