The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) announced party chief Lalu Yadav’s daughter Dr Misa Bharti and former MLA Dr Faiyaz Ahmad as the party’s candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
Filing of nominations for the Rajya Sabha polls began on Wednesday and comes to a close on May 31. Bharti and Ahmad are likely to file their nominations tomorrow (Friday).
Earlier, several names were doing the rounds for the second seat, the most prominent being Sharad Yadav, a former party chief who was disqualified as a Rajya Sabha member in 2017.
There was also speculation that the RJD may send Baba Siddiqui or ace Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal to the upper house of Parliament. However, Sibal has already filed the nomination from Lucknow as an independent candidate with the support of the Samajwadi Party (SP).
On Wednesday, RJD chief Lalu, along with his eldest daughter Misa Bharti, arrived at Patna airport at 7 pm and went to his wife Rabri Devi’s official residence at 10 Circular Road.
Polling for 57 Rajya Sabha seats in 15 states has been scheduled for June 10. The election is being held to fill the seats falling vacant due to the retirement of members on different dates between June and August.
Among the 57 seats, a total of 11 seats are falling vacant in Uttar Pradesh, six members each are retiring from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, five from Bihar, and four each from Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Karnataka. Three members each from Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, two each from Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Jharkhand, and Haryana, and one from Uttarakhand are also retiring.
