Bihar: Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, Mukesh Sahani to be elected MLCs unopposed

PATNA: Former Union minister and national spokesperson of BJP Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and VIP chief and state animal husbandry and fisheries minister Mukesh Sahani on Monday filed their nominations for bye-election to the state legislative council. CM Nitish Kumar and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi were present on the occasion.
The two seats of the legislative council fell vacant after former deputy CM S K Modi was elected to the Rajya Sabha and Vinod Narayan Jha to the state legislative assembly last year.Both candidates are set to be elected unopposed as no nominations were filed against them. Both the seats in the council belonged to BJP.
Monday was the last date of filing of nominations. The notification was issued on January 11 and the election is scheduled to be held on January 28. “As nominations have not been filed against the two candidates of the NDA, they are likely to be declared unopposed on the last date of withdrawal of nominations January 21,” a senior official of the legislative council said.
The CM Nitish congratulated both the candidates on the occasion and said all four constituents of the NDA have been working in coordination and would continue to do so in future too. Nitish, however, evaded questions on the expansion of the state cabinet.
Earlier, the Patna divisional commissioner was designated as the returning officer by the Election Commission. Usually, the nominations are filed before the secretary of the state assembly but the current secretary Bateshwar Nath Pandey is scheduled to retire within six months.
According to authoritative sources, Shahnawaz will serve as MLC till May 6, 2024, while Sahani’s tenure will come to an end on July 21, 2022. While Shahnawaz will replace S K Modi, the post vacated by Vinod Narayan Jha will be filled by Sahani, who earlier took oath as state animal husbandry and fisheries minister on November 16 last year.
Both deputy CMs—Tar Kishore Prasad and Renu Devi, state president of BJP Dr Sanjay Jaiswal and MLC and media cell in-charge Sanjay Mayukh were present at the office of the divisional commissioner during the filing of nominations of the two NDA candidates.
Talking to reporters, Shahnawaz said, “I am a true soldier of the party. I will serve in whatever position the party considers fit for me.” Earlier, SuMo said Shahanwaz’s return to state politics will boost the party’s support base in Seemanchal. Sources said Shahnawaz may be given a berth in the Nitish Kumar cabinet during the next expansion.