The tenure of five Rajya Sabha MPs from Bihar will end in April next year, and the seats will again be vacant for elections. Given NDA's historic victory in the Assembly elections, it is expected to get an additional seat this time.

The LJP-R has already made a claim to this seat. Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) founder and Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has now staked his claim, threatening to leave the NDA if he is not given the seat.

According to a report by Jagran.com, Chirag's claim is strong and is unlikely to be dismissed by the NDA. The seat was promised to the undivided LJP in 2020 after BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad was elected to the Lok Sabha.

Ram Vilas Paswan was elected to the seat, but after his untimely demise in October 2022, the seat went to the BJP. Chirag Paswan is reportedly asking for a seat for his party, LJP-RV.

Who holds these five seats?

Out of these five seats, the JDU and RJD each hold two seats. The remaining one is held by Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM).

The Rajya Sabha terms of the JDU's Harivansh Narayan Singh and Ramnath Thakur, the RJD's Premchandra Gupta and AD Singh, and the RLSP's Upendra Kushwaha expire on April 9 next year.

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The NDA achieved tremendous success in this year's assembly elections, making it certain to win four of the five seats. The additional seat for NDA could go to LJP-RV.

Who is in a tussle for the fifth seat?

The fifth seat could go to the united Opposition. However, this will depend entirely on the stance of the AIMIM, which has five MLAs.

Rajya Sabha calculations

The number of members of the Legislative Assembly is 243. If elections are held for five Rajya Sabha seats, 41 MLAs' votes are required to win one seat. The NDA has 202 MLAs.

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Its victory in four seats is comfortable. If the opposition grand alliance wants to win the fifth seat, it must secure the support of five AIMIM MLAs and one BSP MLA.

If AIMIM boycotts the vote, the votes of 39 MLAs will be needed for one Rajya Sabha seat. The condition will become favourable for the NDA in such a situation. The NDA could win all the five seats if AIMIM boycotts the polls.