Friday, March 17 2006 14:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi today(Mar 17,2006) filed their nomination papers for the March 29 biennial elections to the legislative council, setting the stage for their entry into the state legislature as required under the Constitution.

Kumar and Modi are currently members of the Lok Sabha and it is mandatory for them to be elected to the state legislature within six months of occupying their posts to continue in office. Former Information and Broadcasting minister Ravishanker Prasad of BJP filed his papers for the Rajya Sabha today, the last day for filing nominations for the polls to be held for six Rajya Sabha seats from the state, simultaneously with the legislative council elections.

Others who filed nomination for the Rajya Sabha are: Mohd Ali Anwar, Mahendra Sahni and Mahendra Prasad (all JD-U), Jabi Hussain and Rajniti Prasad (both RJD). Hussain is currently the Chairman of the legislative council. LJP Vice-president Ranjan Prasad Yadav had filed his papers for the RS yesterday.

Apart from Kumar and Modi, those who filed nomination for the legislative council today are: Ramashray Prasad Singh and Narendra Singh (both members of the Nitish Kumar cabinet) and former union minister Nagmani (all JD-U), Baleshwar Singh Bharti, Tarakant Jha (both BJP), Uday Narayan Rai and Bhim Singh (both RJD) and Chandan Bagchi (Congress). Sanjay Singh,state LJP spokesman and a close aide of party President Ram Vilas Paswan, had filed his papers yesterday.

Poll is being held for 11 legislative council seats along with six of the Rajya Sabha.