All 5 NDA candidates including Nitish Kumar and Nitin Nabin win,Cross voting in orissa

All five Rajya Sabha candidates of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won comfortably in Bihar after four Opposition members, including 3 MLAs of the Congress party, skipped voting on Monday. With 44 first-preference votes each, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Nabin led the tally, followed by Ram Nath Thakur (JDU) and Upendra Kushwaha of Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) with 42 votes each, while BJP’s Shivesh Ram secured 30 votes and won the fifth seat with the help of second-preference votes.

Earlier, voting for five Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar concluded at 4 pm on Monday, March 16, at the Bihar Assembly complex. Janata Dal United (JDU) members Harivansh Narayan Singh and Ram Nath Thakur are retiring on April 9, 2026, along with Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Amarendra Dhari Singh and Prem Chand Gupta. Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) leader Upendra Kushwaha is also retiring. Thakur was renominated by the JDU, while Kushwaha was also given a second chance. The RJD also decided to renominate Dhari.

A candidate required 41 first-preference votes to secure a Rajya Sabha seat in Bihar. The BJP has 89 MLAs in the 243-strong Bihar Assembly. The Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal United (JDU) has 85 members, while other National Democratic Alliance (NDA) members, including Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM), have 19, 5, and 4 MLAs, respectively.

In orissa three BJP backed candidates, Manmohan Samal, Sujeet Kumar and Dilip Ray and BJD candidate Santrupta Mishra have won their respective Rajya Sabha elections on Monday (March 16, 2026). BJD deputy chief whip Pratap Keshari Deb said eight party MLAs cross-voted in favour of Mr. Ray.

Polling for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana ended at 4 p.m. on Monday (March 16, 2026). While the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), which has two legislators, abstained from voting, the Congress MLAs, who were shifted to Himachal Pradesh, returned shortly after the polling began at 9 am and cast their votes.

At least five MLAs of the Opposition BJD and Congress on Monday reportedly voted in favour of the BJP-supported Independent nominee Dilip Ray in the Rajya Sabha elections in Odisha, for which voting is underway.

The term of 37 members elected from Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Telangana will conclude in April, vacating the seats for new members to be elected.

Among the unopposed candidates, the BJP secured seven, Congress five, the Trinamool Congress four, the DMK three, and Shiv Sena, RPI(A), NCP, NCP(SP), AIADMK, PMK, and UPPL one each. Notable winners include Sharad Pawar, Abhishek Singhvi, Tiruchi Siva, and Vinod Tawade.(UPDATED ON 16TH MARCH 2026)

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