Patna,(BiharTimes): Of all the parties it is Janata Dal (United), which is keenly waiting for the by-poll for five Assembly seats in Bihar as much is at stake for it. Along with the parliamentary election by-polls were held for Kochadhaman, Baisi, Sahebpur Kamal, Chiraiya and Maharaj Assembly seats. While elections were held in the first four because of the resignation by sitting MLAs in Maharajganj it went to poll as the sitting MLA of the JD(U) died.

While JD (U) and BJP held two of these seats the Kochadhaman seat was won by RJD’s Akhtar-ul-Iman, who switched over to JD(U) on the eve of Lok Sabha election. 

JD (U)’s Chhedi Paswan also resigned from the party and the Assembly but by-election was not held in Mohania, which he represented. He contested as the BJP candidate from Sasaram Lok Sabha seat.

At present, JD (U) has 116 members in the Assembly including the speaker, Uday Narayan Chaudhary, who contested the Lok Sabha election from Jamui.

The JD(U) needs 122 for the simple majority in the House of 243. Even if JD (U) wins all the five seats, it  will remain short of the halfway mark and has to depend on the support of Independents and others.

There were in all four Independent MLAs, who are supporting it, but the Patna High Court recently declared null and void the membership of one of them, Som Prakash, from Obra. 

The problem with the Janata Dal (United) is that it has suspended rebel MLAs Renu Kumari Kushwaha, Sujata Devi and Poonam Devi who openly worked against party nominees in the Lok Sabha polls while Annu Shukla contested as an Independent from Vaishali Lok Sabha seat. None of them have resigned from the Assembly. BJP MLA of Jale Vijay Kumar Mishra had also announced quitting BJP and joining JD (U).

In February 13 RJD MLAs had rebelled and the Assembly Speaker recognized them as separate bloc but nine of them returned to the RJD. 

It is to be seen wherther in this changing situation four Congress members as well as one CPI MLA continue to support the ruling party in the Assembly or not. 

But there is another angle to the state politics. Three BJP MLAs––Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Janardan Singh Sigriwal and Satish Dubey––have contested the Lok Sabha election and if they win their Assembly seats would be vacated. Thus the strength of the House will be reduced. A couple of RJD MLAs as well as Shahid Ali Khan, a minister in Nitish cabinet, have also contested parliamentary election.