The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday announced the schedule for the biennial polls to nine seats of the Bihar legislative council, including the one vacated by Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary after his election to the state assembly last year.
The EC also announced a bypoll for the legislative council seat vacated by former chief minister Nitish Kumar following his election to the Rajya Sabha.
Polling for the nine seats and the by-election will be held on June 18, with counting of votes scheduled that evening. The entire election process will be completed by June 20.
According to the poll schedule, notifications will be issued on June 1, while the last date for filing nominations is June 8. Scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on June 9, and candidates can withdraw their nominations till June 11.
The MLCs whose terms are ending in June include Kumud Verma, Ghulam Ghous, Mohammad Farooq, Bhishma Sahni, Sanjay Prakash, Samir Kumar Singh and Sunil Kumar Singh. Sribhagwan Singh Kushwaha and Samrat Choudhary vacated their seats after getting elected to the Bihar assembly.
The bypoll is being necessitated after the resignation of Kumar, the state's longest-serving CM, who was elected to the Upper House of Parliament in March.