Lok Sabha polls leave seven MLA, MLC seats vacant in Bihar

PATNA: Seven seats in the Bihar legislature have fallen vacant, including those of two MLCs, after they won in the Lok Sabha elections, the results of which were declared on Thursday.
Majority of them are from JD (U), which bagged 16 of the 17 seats it had contested. Among the legislators elected to Parliament are three state ministers—Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Dinesh Chandra Yadav, both from JD (U) and Pashupati Kumar Paras from LJP.
While Lalan and Pashupati are MLCs, Dinesh Chandra Yadav is an MLA from Simri Bakhtiarpur. Lalan was water resources minister, Paras held animal and fisheries charge while Dinesh had disaster management, before they filed their nominations for the Lok Sabha polls.
Lalan won from Munger, Dinesh got elected from Madhepura and Paras from Hajipur (SC) constituencies. Sources said they would resign from their respective posts in the next couple of days, before taking oath of office as MPs.
Four other MLAs also emerged triumphant in the Lok Sabha polls. While JD(U) MLA from Daraundha Kavita Singh won from Siwan, Giridhari Yadav, JD (U) MLA from Belhar, got elected from Banka.
Similarly, Ajay Kumar Mandal, JD (U) MLA from Nathnagar, was elected from Bhagalpur while Javed Ahmad, Congress MLA from Kishanganj, will now represent Kishanganj in the Lok Sabha.
Javed is the lone Mahagathbandhan candidate to win from the state. The NDA won 39 of the 40 seats up for grabs.
Other more high-profile opposition MLAs, including Jitan Ram Manjhi (Imamganj), Chandrika Prasad Rai (Parsa) and Abdul Bari Siddiqui (Alinagar), were not so lucky.
A senior government official said that the Election Commission will notify the bye-elections within six months. The state assembly poll is due in October-November 2020.