Nitish landslide leaves no qualified Opposition party in Bihar

This means to qualify for the status a party has to get at least 24 seats in the state Assembly which has an effective strength of 243. Neither Lalu Prasad’s RJD with 22 seats and its pre-poll ally LJP with only three seats fit the bill.

The Congress with four seats and CPI and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) bagging a seat each do not qualify either.

“As per the constitutional norms,RJD does not qualify for the status of an Opposition party. Since such a situation has emerged for the first time in Bihar,the issue has to be settled as per the legislative traditions in other states and Parliament,” said former chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council and senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.

“The RJD-LJP combine having a collective strength of 25 seats qualifies to sit on the opposition bench,it entirely lies within the realms of discretion of the Speaker of the state Assembly to consider the claim,” Singh said.

In the last Assembly with RJD having 54 seats in its kitty,former chief minister Rabri Devi became the leader of Opposition while senior party leader Shakuni Choudhary was the deputy speaker.

This time,both Rabri and Choudhary lost elections.

State RJD president Abdul Bari Siddiqui is the only prominent face to head the RJD-LJP combine in the opposition in the event of the new Speaker considering the claim of the RJD-LJP’s pre-poll alliance and according the combine the status of Opposition.