The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominated its national president Nitin Nabin as a candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from Bihar, naming him among nine nominees for the biennial polls to the Upper House.
The Election Commission will conduct elections to 37 Rajya Sabha seats across 10 States on March 16. The seats are falling vacant in April following the completion of terms of sitting members. The ruling BJP is expected to increase its strength in the Upper House after the elections as it is either in power or part of the governing alliance in six of the 10 States going to polls.
The States where seats are set to fall vacant are Maharashtra (seven), Tamil Nadu (six), West Bengal (five), Bihar (five), Odisha (four), Assam (three), Telangana (two), Chhattisgarh (two), Haryana (two) and Himachal Pradesh (one).
The BJP’s list of candidates includes Nitin Nabin and Shivesh Kumar from Bihar; Terash Gowalla and Jogen Mohan from Assam; Laxmi Verma from Chhattisgarh; Sanjay Bhatia from Haryana; Manmohan Samal and Sujeet Kumar from Odisha; and Rahul Sinha from West Bengal.
Rajya Sabha members are elected by elected members of State Legislative Assemblies through a system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote, with outcomes determined by the numerical strength of parties in the respective Assemblies.
