Day after NDA’s clean sweep in Bihar, Congress MLA says skipped RS poll on State party’s chief’s advice; Rajesh Ram denies claim

All four MLAs of the Opposition Mahagathbandhan alliance in Bihar who were absent during voting for the Rajya Sabha election cited different reasons on Tuesday (March 17, 2026) for skipping the poll. The NDA won all five seats that went to the polls on Monday (March 16, 2026).

While Congress MLAs Manohar Prasad Singh (Manihari), Surendra Prasad (Valimikinagar), and Manoj Bishwas (Forbesganj) claimed they were not happy with the joint candidate, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Dhaka MLA Faisal Rahman cited his mother being unwell as the reason for not turning up. The alliance’s candidate, Amarendra Dhari Singh of the RJD, lost the election.

Mr. Bishwas alleged that State Congress chief Rajesh Ram had given them directions to skip voting as he was unhappy with not being involved in the selection of the joint candidate.

“On March 12, the three of us held a meeting with Rajeshji and he told us we are free to make our own decision. If our leader will not get due respect, then it is not good to cast votes in the favour of the RJD candidate. Just because our leader is a Dalit, he did not get due respect and was not involved in the entire process of the Rajya Sabha election,” Mr. Bishwas told mediapersons in Patna.

He also denied any pressure from the NDA camp to abstain from voting, asserting that he “just followed the party’s ideology”.

However, the State Congress president termed the allegation “baseless”. “Why did they switch off their mobile phones? The allegations by the MLAs are baseless. Being a national party, we are awaiting instructions from the central leadership to take disciplinary action against them Wait for the right time,” Mr. Ram told reporters.

In a Facebook post, Mr. Surendra Prasad said, “Given that the Grand Alliance had the opportunity to contest just one seat, we could have selected a better candidate, Deepak Yadav or Mukesh Sahani. Instead of giving them the opportunity, the candidature was given to an individual belonging to a social group whose support base actually stands opposed to the Grand Alliance.”

Mr. Singh comes from the upper caste Bhumihar community, which is considered the core voter base of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Since I could not support the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and the RJD selected the wrong candidate, I simply decided to refrain from voting,” he said.

Mr. Surendra Prasad denied the allegation of getting engaged in horse-trading. “During the meeting with (RJD leader) Tejashwi Yadavji on March 5, his name and Hena Sahab (wife of late don-turned-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin) were being discussed and we had no problem with these names. After some time, the three of us heard the name of Amarendra Dhari Singh. I heard his name for the first time and did not even recognise him. Then itself I had decided not to vote for him,” he said.

Mr. Manohar Prasad said Mr. Singh was not the Congress candidate so he skipped voting. “The Mahagathbandhan candidate was not declared; he was the RJD candidate. Nobody told us that he was the Mahagathbandhan candidate. The candidate was not in tune with our ideology,” he said.

Of the five NDA candidates who secured victory, two each were from the Bharatiya Janata Party – party national president Nitin Nabin and Shivesh Kumar – and the Janata Dal (United) – Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Ramnath Thakur. Rashtriya Lok Morcha president and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, who is part of the ruling alliance, also secured victory.

There was a contest for the fifth seat between Mr. Shivesh Kumar and Mr. Singh. While Mr. Shivesh Kumar secured 38 votes, Mr. Singh got 37 votes.