All five NDA candidates win Rajya Sabha polls in Bihar, including CM Nitish Kumar and Nitin Nabin

All five candidates of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) clinched victory in the biennial elections for Rajya Sabha on Monday, March 16, 2026, following four MLAs. Mahagathbandhan did not participate in the voting.

While all 202 MLAs of NDA voted, only 37 MLAs of NDA voted. Mahagathbandhan voted.

The five candidates who secured victory were BJP President Nitin Nabin and Shivesh Kumar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Ramnath Thakur, each from the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal-(United). Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) President and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha also secured victory.

Three of the six Congress MPs who skipped voting were Manohar Prasad Singh (Manihari), Surendra Prasad (Valimikinagar) and Manoj Bishwas (Forbesganj). Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA from Dhaka Assembly constituency Faisal Rahman also skipped the voting.

There was a contest between Shivesh Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate Amarendra Dhari Singh for the fifth seat. According to the calculation, 41 votes were required to win the seat, from the NDA side, Mr. Shivesh got 38 votes while Mr. Singh got 37 votes.

Sharing the information, Bihar BJP State President Sanjay Saraogi said, “All our five candidates have guaranteed victory. I congratulate everyone.”

According to the Assembly Secretariat, Nitish Kumar and Nitin Nabin got 44 votes each, while Ramnath Thakur and Upendra Kushwaha got 42 votes each. In the first round of elections, BJP candidate Shivesh Ram received 30 votes.

Rajya Sabha follows a system called Proportional Representation through Single Transferable Vote (STV).

In this system, instead of voting for a single candidate, MLAs are given a ballot paper with the names of all candidates. They then need to sort them according to their preferences; i.e. first choice, second choice etc.

A candidate does not need to get the most votes to win. They just need to reach a certain “quota”. This number is calculated based on the total number of MLAs who voted and the number of seats available.

If the winner receives more votes than the quota, their votes are transferred to the “second choice”.

This is what happened when Shivesh Kumar defeated RJD candidate Mr. Singh in the second preference.

Reacting to the victory, BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha launched a scathing attack on the RJD and the Congress, saying both the parties had insulted democratic values.

He claimed that keeping legislators locked in a hotel was like treating them as “bonded laborers.” Mr. Sinha argued that distrusting one’s own colleagues and keeping them in servitude was part of the RJD’s old political culture.

Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) President Upendra Kushwaha also criticized the RJD for skipping the MLA’s voting.

“After some time, you will see the entire RJD party disappearing,” said Bay. Kushwaha said.

Bihar Congress President Rajesh Ram accused the BJP of using investigative agencies against the three MLAs and therefore not turning up to vote.

RJD MLA Kumar Sarvjeet alleged that the BJP used the power of money to win the election.