PATNA, MARCH 22: With withdrawal of nomination papers by former Union Minister and JD-U leader, Kamla Sinha, other eight candidates including S S Ahluwalia (BJP), Mahendra Prasad (RJD), Phalguni Ram (Congress) and Rajiv Ranjan Singh (Samata) were declared elected unopposed in the biennial elections to the eight Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar today.According to Bihar assembly secretary-cum-returning officer J P Pal, others who were elected to the Upper House are: Kukum Rai and Vijay Singh Yadav of RJD, Ravishanker Prasad of BJP and R K Anand of JMM-S.Sinha withdrew her papers on reported pressure from NDA leaders to pave the way for unopposed election of their four other candidates, Ahluwalia, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Prasad and Anand.JMM-S with 12 MLAs had extended support to the Nitish Kumar-led minority NDA ministry before it bowed out of office without seeking a vote on confidence motion on March 10.However, stage is set for the by-poll to the lone Rajya Sabha seat on March 29 with Vendhamma Berio of RJD and former BPCC treasurer and NDA-supported Independent Rajni Ranjan Sahu remaining in the fray.Ram Deo Sahu of RJD will cross swords with Niranjan Singh another NDA-backed Independent in the by-election to the lone council seat same day.Elections to the eight RS seats were necessitated by the impending retirement of A S Mohammed Ansari, Nagmani and Nares Yadav of RJD, Sitaram Kesri and Jagannath Mishra of Congress, Kamala Sinha of JD-U, Janardan Yadav of BJP and Jalaluddin Ansari of CPI.By-election to one Rajya Sabha seat was required on account of death of RJD member Jagadambi Mandal and to the lone council seat because of election of Ram Prasad Singh (RJD) to the Lok Sabha.
