While the RJD in Bihar has been going all out to mobilise the entire Opposition ranks in favour of its candidate A D Singh for the fifth seat in the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections in the state, the ruling NDA may be on course to clinch all five seats.
As part of its strategy, the BJP-led NDA has made its ally Upendra Kushwaha, the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) chief, its fourth candidate to ensure his victory on the strength of its own votes.
Each candidate needs votes of 41 MLAs to win an Upper House berth in the upcoming elections. Given its strength of 202 MLAs in the 243-member Bihar Assembly, the ruling coalition is set to win four seats smoothly, even as its fifth candidate would require votes of just three more MLAs from the non-NDA camp.
The RJD-led Mahagathbandhan has 35 MLAs and it will need the support of six more MLAs to be in a position to send one representative to the Rajya Sabha.
The BJP has fielded Dalit leader and ex-party MLA Shivesh Ram as its fifth candidate. Other NDA candidates include Chief Minister and JD(U) president
Nitish Kumar, BJP national president Nitin Nabin, Union minister and JD(U) leader Ram Nath Thakur and Shivesh Ram.
The party holding the key to determine the winner of the fifth seat seems to be the AIMIM, which has five MLAs.
While RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has held a meeting with the AIMIM’s Bihar unit chief and MLA Akhtarul Iman to seek his party’s backing for its nominee, the Mahagathbandhan does not appear to be sure of the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party’s support. The Opposition camp has also pinned its hopes on the support of the BSP’s lone MLA to boost its nominee’s chances.
“AIMIM has still not forgotten the RJD poaching four of our then five MLAs after the 2020 Assembly polls. Also, how could RJD take a unilateral decision on fielding its outgoing Rajya Sabha MP A D Singh as the Opposition candidate again without taking us into confidence? Our leader Asaduddin Owaisi would take a final call on the matter on March 16 only,” said an AIMIM insider.
Echoing the Opposition camp’s scepticism about the AIMIM’s backing, an RJD leader said: “We are doubtful about AIMIM’s support. It can either back Upendra Kushwaha or abstain from voting. In either case, NDA seems to have an advantage”. The RJD leader claimed that they had not been sure of “complete support” of even the Congress, which has six MLAs.
The Indian Inclusive Party (IIP) chief and its lone MLA, I P Gupta, an ally of the Mahagathbandhan, however said: “We are going to sail through. Supporting even Kushwaha amounts to backing BJP. We have been talking to our allies to stay united.”
A BJP leader said: “Upendra Kushwaha is a national leader and an important ally. The BJP has made him the fourth candidate to ensure his victory. The party has taken a calculated risk by making Shivesh Ram its fifth candidate. But he would also make it eventually.”
The Rajya Sabha elections have become a battle of prestige for both sides, with the Mahagathbandhan still trying to recover from its debacle in the November 2025 Assembly polls. It has also put the AIMIM in a spot because the party has often been accused by the larger Opposition of being “B team of BJP”.
For the NDA, winning all five seats would reinforce its upper hand in the Rajya Sabha.
The Upper House polls are taking place for seats being vacated by five retiring MPs from the state, including Prem Chand Gupta and A D Singh from the RJD, Harivansh Narayan Singh and Ramnath Thakur from the JD(U)), and Upendra Kushwaha.