Contrary to the expectations and speculations in the political circles here, the nomination process to the six vacant Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar went off peacefully and all the candidates in fray belonging to four different parties are likely to be elected unopposed.
Amng those going to the Upper House there are two new faces Prof Manoj Jha and Ahmed Ashfaq Karim, both of RJD, and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of Congress while the three others – Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad of BJP and JD(U)’s Bashistha Narain Singh and Mahendra Prasad Singh- have been retained.
The big losers in this biennial election were BJP and JD(U) whose two and four members respectively have retired but the two NDA parties could retain their three members only one by BJP and two by the JD(U). Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was Rajya Sabha member from Bihar has to be accommodated from another State as the Bihar BJP has no enough strength to send both of its Central Ministers. Ravi Shankar Prasad, a close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been nominated to Upper House for fourth consecutive term.