Bihar Legislative Council elections 2018: Nitish Kumar, Rabri Devi, 9 others elected unopposed

Several top leaders in Bihar, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, Health Minister Mangal Pandey and former chief minister Rabri Devi have been elected unopposed as members of the legislative council. Candidates on all 11 seats have been elected unopposed in the elections.

The Congress had fielded just one candidate – Premchand Mishra – while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had fielded Sanjay Paswan, Sushil Kumar Modi and Mangal Pandey as its candidates. The JDU had named Nitish Kumar, Rameshwar Mahato and Khalid Anwar. On the RJD quota, Rabri Devi, Ramchandra Purve, Syed Khurshid Mohseen and former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son Santosh Manjhi were fielded.

According to Prabhat Khabar, all the parties in this election made attempts to go along with the caste equation. While the JDU gave preference to minority and Kushwaha community, BJP tried to include members of the Dalit community. The RJD also tried to include Dalit face.

Nitish Kumar has been elected as a member of the legislative council for the third time as a chief minister. He is the only leader in the state who became a Chief Minister as a member of the legislative council.

There are six new faces among the newly-elected MLCs – Sanjay Paswan, Premchand Mishra, Rameshwar Mahato, Khalid Anwar, Syed Khurshid Mohseen and Santosh Kumar Suman.