4 min readNew DelhiMar 18, 2026 07:21 AM IST
First published on: Mar 18, 2026 at 07:21 AM IST
The NDA won all five Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar on Monday despite not having the numbers with a little help from four Opposition MLAs – three from the Congress and one from the RJD – who did not turn up to vote citing various reasons.
While the RJD’s Dhaka legislator Faisal Rahman said he could not vote “due to his mother’s illness, the Congress MLAs – Surendra Kushwaha (Valmiki Nagar), Manohar Prasad (Manihari) and Manoj Vishwas (Forbesganj) – said they were “not valued by the RJD” and hence did not cast their vote.
Here is a look at the four legislators.
Faisal Rahman
A first-time MLA, 40-year-old Rahman is the son of former MP Motiur Rahman. In the 2025 Assembly elections, Rahman defeated the BJP sitting MLA Pawan Kumar Jaiswal by a narrow margin of 178 votes.
“I had informed (RJD leader) Tejashwi Yadav about my mother’s illness but promised my availability. But my mother’s condition deteriorated just a day before the elections. What can a son do under such circumstances?,” he said.
Surendra Kushwaha
Another first-time MLA, 61-year-old Kushwaha defeated sitting JD(U) MLA Dhirendra Pratap Singh by just over 1,600 votes in the 2025 polls. Earlier with the Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM), Surendra joined the Congress just ahead of the Assembly polls.
“We were hearing that Tejashwi would be the Opposition candidate. As he was not in the fray, there was no point voting for anyone else (A D Singh). Also, (Bihar Congress chief) Rajesh Ram just sent me a text message asking me to vote for the RJD candidate. There was no call. I preferred to stay at home as my vote had no respect and value,” he said.
Manoj Vishwas
Associated with the RJD for a long time and even serving as the party’s Araria district general secretary, 38-year-old Vishwas joined the Congress ahead of the Assembly elections.
He reportedly got the Congress ticket due to the backing of Independent Purnea MP Pappu Yadav and defeated two-time MLA Vidya Sagar Keshri by a margin of 221 votes.
On staying away from voting, Vishwas said he was not valued by the RJD. “However, I am very much with the Congress,” he added.
Manohar Prasad Singh
Singh, 76, is a former police officer and a four-time MLA who began his electoral journey with the JD(U) in 2010. He joined the Congress ahead of the 2015 polls and has won the seat three straight times as its candidate.
On abstaining from the Rajya Sabha polls, Singh said he found no reason to vote for the RJD candidate. “They should have fielded a common worker. Neither the RJD or Congress asked me to vote for A D Singh,” he said.
How did parties react?
Saying that the Rajya Sabha result has “exposed the NDA’s character again”, Tejashwi said, “We will decide what action to take against our MLA at a later stage. We were six MLAs short while NDA was just three short of the magic figure of 41. However, we still decided to put up a fight,” he added.
Congress spokesperson Asit Nath Tiwari termed the excuses given by the four MLAs as “unconvincing and casual”. “They did not vote as they were intimidated with the threat of central agencies or they were bought over,” he said.
On the other hand, BJP state vice-president Santosh Pathak said the NDA won because it had the numbers. “If the Opposition could not cobble up the numbers, they should introspect instead of blaming and accusing us,” he added.
Three from the Congress and one from the RJD did not turn up to vote citing various reasons. 
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