Patna: Altogether 18 candidates filed their nominations on Monday for bypoll to a seat in the Bihar legislative council necessitated by former Chairman Devesh Chandra Thakur's resignation, the Election Commission said.
A multi-cornered contest is expected, with chief minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), the RJD and Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj throwing their hats in the ring in the Tirhut Graduates constituency, which fell vacant earlier this year after Thakur got elected to the Lok Sabha from Sitamarhi.
The JD(U) hopes to retain the seat by fielding Abhishek Jha, a young engineering graduate, who has made a mark as a combative spokesman of the party in news channel debates.
The main opposition party RJD has sought to play the OBC card by fielding Gopi Kishan, who belongs to the Kalwar community, a sub-caste of the Vaishyas, who have a sizeable presence in north Bihar.
The Jan Suraaj, which has supported Independents in past council polls, a couple of whom won, is now a political party, and has given ticket to Vinayak Gautam, a medical practitioner-turned-politician. Gautam's father Ram Kumar Singh was a senior Congress leader and had represented the Tirhut Graduates seat thrice.
Another important candidate is Rajesh Kumar Raushan, an Independent who was formerly with the Lok Janshakti Party, and claims to be "working to fulfil the dreams of late Ram Vilas Paswan".
The polling has been scheduled for December 5.
The counting of votes will take place on December 9. PTI