After the LS elections, Bihar will hold by-elections to some seats in the state assembly, Rajya Sabha and council.

The end of India’s Lok Sabha elections has left vacancies in five constituencies, necessitating by-elections for two Senate seats and one municipal assembly seat in Bihar.

The Election Commission of India (EC) announced by-elections for 13 constituencies across the country, including Bihar’s Rupauli constituency, on June 10. By-elections for the remaining constituencies in the state will be announced once the newly elected Lok Sabha members are formally sworn in on June 24. The EC announced the vacancies after Bhima Bharati, a former MLA from Rupauli, resigned from the constituency to contest the Lok Sabha elections.

Two Congress MPs — Sudhakar Singh of the RJD from Ramgarh constituency and Surendra Yadav from Bera constituency — contested from Buxar and Jehanabad assembly constituencies respectively and both won.

Similarly, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular)’s Imanganj assembly member Jitan Ram Manjhi and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)’s Tarali assembly member Sudama Prasad won the elections from Gaya and Ara parliamentary constituencies respectively.

RJD leader Laloo Prasad’s eldest daughter Misa Bharti won the Lok Sabha elections from Patliputra constituency, while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Vivek Thakur won from Nawada constituency. Both Bharti and Thakur are Rajya Sabha members. However, after being elected to the Lok Sabha, both party leaders have to either give up their newly elected seats or resign from the Upper House.

In Bihar, both Rajya Sabha seats will probably go to the NDA since it has more seats than the Congress. The two seats are expected to be shared between the Janata Dal (United) and the BJP.

Meanwhile, Bihar Assembly Speaker and JD(U) leader Devesh Chandra Thakur, who was the state legislator from Tirhut Graduates constituency, also won from Sitamarhi constituency and became a member of the Indian Lok Sabha.

After Thakur joins the Lower House, JD(U) supremo and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will also have to appoint a new council chairman, who is likely to come from the JD(U) as Congress leader Nand Kishore Yadav is with coalition partner the BJP.

Of the five vacant seats, three belong to the Indian National Development Alliance (INDIA) and two to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Bhima Bharati won the Rupauli seat on a JD(U) ticket but contested the Lok Sabha election from Purnea on an RJD ticket.