Petitions filed in Patna High Court challenging election of several MLAs, court issues notices

Several petitions have been filed in Patna High Court challenging the elections of over 40 elected members of the State Assembly, including Speaker Prem Kumar, Energy and Finance Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav and others. The court has issued notices to the respondent legislators.

The petitions have been filed by the candidates who lost the election from their respective constituencies, and the court, in the usual course, has issued notices to the elected representatives from both ruling and Opposition parties, but the majority among them belong to the ruling NDA alliance parties.

“Usually, no election petition is dismissed by the court outright. Notices are issued to the respondents, and orders would be passed by the court after examining the material at hand”, said Siddharth Prasad, who represents the Election Commission in the court. The petitions, said to be over 40, have been filed by the candidates who have lost elections from their respective constituencies, said Mr. Prasad to media persons.

The petitions challenging the elections of newly elected MLAs, including the Speaker of the State Assembly and nine-term BJP MLA from Gaya town, Prem Kumar, senior Minister in Nitish Kumar’s cabinet, Bijendra Prasad Yadav of JD-U, former Minister Jibesh Kumar Mishra of BJP, Chetan Anand (JD-U) and others. The petition against Prem Kumar has been filed by Akhauri Onkar Nath who had contested the election as Congress candidate and lost by 26, 423 votes.

Similarly, the court has issued notice to senior JD-U leader and nine-term MLA from Supaul, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, who is also the State’s Energy and Finance minister. Mr. Yadav had defeated Congress candidate Minnatullah Rahmani by over 30,000 votes.

The BJP candidate from Jale constituency in Darbhanga district and former Minister in Nitish Kumar’s cabinet, Jibesh Mishra, too had defeated Congress candidate Rishi Mishra by over 20,000 votes. But, the ruling JD-U candidate from Nabinagar constituency of Aurangabad district, Chetan Anand, had won the poll by just 112 votes, defeating the Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate Amod Kumar Singh.

Most of the election petitions have been filed in the court citing alleged discrepancies in affidavits filed by the winning candidates concerned or, for violation of other provisions of the Representation of the People Act, said the EC counsel Siddharth Prasad. The petitions have also been challenged against RJD MLA from Goh constituency of Aurangabad, Amarendra Kumar and others too. The court has directed the MLAs to respond within the stipulated timeframe for further proceedings to take place.

However, some of Patna HC lawyers told The Hindu that “issuance of notices does not imply guilt but, yes, it marks that the court has found sufficient grounds to seek clarification from the respondents”. “Election petitions are a constitutional remedy available to candidates who wish to challenge results on grounds of discrepancies like procedural lapses, false declarations, corrupt practices etc.”, said senior advocate of the court, Amit Prakash.

In the 2025 two-phased State Assembly elections in Bihar, the NDA comprising the BJP, JD-U, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), and Rashtriya Lok Morcha had won 202 seats out of a total of 243-member State Assembly, the Opposition mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) allies RJD had won 25, Congress 6, Left parties three seats and the rest are by others.