Bihar MLC polls begin for 8 seats, 150 candidates in fray

Election officials collect their ballot boxes from a distribution center ahead of the Patna MLC election on October 22, 2026. Photo credit: ANI

Polls for the biennial elections to eight Bihar Legislative Council seats began at 8 am on Friday (October 23, 2026) amid tight security, with 5.32 lakh voters empowered to decide the fate of 150 candidates, officials said.

Voting will continue till 4 pm for four graduate and four faculty constituencies, they said.

The total number of voters is 5,32,847, including 1,46,611 women and 37 third gender voters, in 933 polling stations. Counting of votes will take place on October 27, they added.

The contest in the Patna Graduates constituency has attracted attention following an open rift within the JD(U), with Mokama MLA Anant Singh supporting Jana Party candidate Suraaj Anuj Singh against his own party’s nominee, Neeraj Kumar.

Mr Kumar, a former minister and close aide of former chief minister Nitish Kumar, is seeking a fourth consecutive term.

Anant Singh extended support to Anuj Singh and alleged that Neeraj Kumar worked against him during last year’s assembly elections.

Apart from Patna Graduates, the other constituencies are Darbhanga Graduates, Tirhut Graduates, Kosi Graduates, Patna Teachers, Darbhanga Teachers, Tirhut Teachers and Saran Teachers.

The terms of the MLC meeting expire on November 16.

The BJP has fielded candidates in four constituencies, including three MLCs seeking re-election, while the JD(U) has nominated candidates for the remaining four seats.

The BJP nominees are MLCs Nawal Kishor Yadav, NK Yadav and Sarvesh Kumar who are seeking re-election from Patna Teachers, Kosi Graduates and Tirhut Graduates respectively.

The party also fielded Narendra Kumar Singh of Tirhut Teachers, a seat currently held by Sanjay Kumar Singh of the CPI, which is part of the opposition INDIA bloc.

Prashant Kishore-led Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) is contesting all the eight seats. After its first announcement, the party revised its candidate list and replaced Bhushan Jha with Shyam Nandan Yadav in Tirhut Teachers and Ravindra Yadav with Mohammad Imtiyaz (Noorani) in Darbhanga Graduates.

Published – 23 Oct 2026 09:06 IST