PATNA, Feb. 19 -- The Rajya Sabha polls for five seats from Bihar, out of a total of 37 seats from across the nation, announced on Wednesday, have put the spotlight on the numerical strength of MLAs in both the ruling NDA and the Opposition INDIA bloc, with speculations rife that the Opposition RJD may field a candidate to make it more challenging for the ruling coalition to win the fifth seat, people familiar with the matter said. The Rajya Sabha polls would be held on March 16 and nomination process will begin from February 26 and last date of filing nomination is March 5 while last date of withdrawal of candidatures is March 9. Out of the five seats, the five party coalition of ruling NDA comprising BJP, JD(U), LJP(RV), HAM(S) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha( RLM) led by MP Upendra Kushwaha is poised to win four seats comfortably as the requirement to win one seat by any party's support of 41 MLAs based on the formula for deciding number of votes required for each candidate to win the polls, officials said. "There is no doubt the NDA having 202 MLAs in the state assembly can easily win four seats. For the fifth seat, they would need at least three to four MLAs more in case there is a contest. All will depend on whether there are more than five candidates in the fray in case the opposition fields any candidate. That would lead to an election as otherwise the candidates would get elected unopposed," said a senior official in the state assembly. Insiders in the NDA said the ruling coalition has already started the initial preparations to file nominations for four of its candidates to be decided by the allies jointly whereas a decision on whether to field a candidate for the fifth seat would be decided in the next few days. " There will be nominations filed by our candidates for four seats. For the fifth seat, we are going to take a decision soon," said Danish Iqbal, state BJP spokesperson. On the other hand, the opposition RJD-led INDIA bloc, having a small strength of 35 MLAs, is also hoping that a seat would come in the kitty of the opposition by banking on past precedence when the ruling NDA has avoided a contest in Rajya Sabha polls. Insiders in the RJD said if the NDA puts a candidate for the fifth seat, the option of winning a single seat would become too difficult for the RJD-Congress led alliance unless there is larger unity in the entire opposition like the support of of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), having five MLAs, as well as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) having one MLA. In total, the strength of entire opposition in the 243 member state assembly is 41, the number required to win one seat of RS, officials said. RJD state president Chittaranjan Gagan said the RJD-led INDIA bloc is eyeing to bag one seat though he was not specific on how the numbers would come as the INDIA bloc has only 35 MLAs minus the AIMIM and BSP. "There has been a precedent in the past that a contest has been avoided in the Rajya Sabha polls with the candidates getting elected unopposed. In the past many years, there has been no contest in the RS polls with the NDA and the opposition getting their candidates elected unopposed. We feel, this time too the same may happen and INDIA bloc would get one seat," Gagan said. Significantly, AIMIM state president and MLA said that the issue of supporting any opposition candidate backed by INDIA bloc is too premature at the moment while insisting if there is any such proposal, the AIMIM should be offered to field its own candidate as a joint opposition candidate. "If there is an opposition candidate fielded for one seat , AIMIM should get the offer to put its nominee as the joint opposition candidate. We will then look into it," Iman said, The statement is indicative how the AIMIM, which did not have any alliance with the INDIA bloc in last Bihar assembly polls in 2025, is still not very keen on supporting a RJD-backed opposition candidate for the fifth seat, in case the INDIA bloc takes a call on fielding a candidate. BSP state president Shankar Mahto, when asked whether his party would support any RJD- led INDIA bloc candidate for RS polls, said the matter would be decided as per the directive of BSP chief and former chief minister Mayawati. " Whatever will be the decision of our BSP chief, we will abide by it," Mahato said. Meanwhile, there are indications of intense lobbying for seat sharing among NDA allies for the RS seats with BJP and JD(U) likely to bag more seats compared to other smaller allies like LJP(RV), HAM(S) and RLM. To mention, the outgoing RS members whose expiry of term has necessitated the polls include Amarendra Dhari Singh and Prem Chand Gupta from the RJD, Harivansh Narayan Singh, deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha, Ramnath Thakur , Union minister (both from the JD(U)) and Upendra Kushwaha, chief of RLM, a key ally in the NDA coalition. Both Ram Nath Thakur, a union minister and deputy Chairperson of RS, Harivansh Narayan Singh, are enjoying their second consecutive terms. Upendra Kushwaha, chief of RLM, too is keen on getting another term, people familiar with the matter said. On the other hand, LJP(RV), having five MPs in Lok Sabha and 19 MLAs in Bihar assembly, too is keen to get at least one RS seat as part of seat sharing within the NDA where as Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) , another smaller ally of the NDA, too has expressed aspiration for one RS seat. Founder of the party and Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has put forth the demand on many occasions in the past few months. Though the candidates of the NDA are still to be announced, there are speculations that newly appointed BJP national president Nitin Nabin could be one of the nominees of the party in the RS polls. Nabin is currently a MLA from Bankipur assembly seat. In the 243 member state assembly, the BJP is the single largest party with 89 MLAs followed by JD(U) having 85 MLAs whereas the LJP(RV) has 19 MLAs while HAM(S) and RLM have five and four seats respectively. "The RS polls this time would be interesting in many ways as both the ruling NDA and opposition RJD are eyeing for the fifth seat. Things would be clear in few days," said a NDA leader....