Bihar MLC Election 2026: Voting on 8 Seats on 23rd October, Results on 27th October

The bugle for the biennial election for 8 seats of the Legislative Council has been sounded in Bihar. The Election Commission of India had announced the election schedule on 22nd September. According to it, voting will be held on 23rd October and after counting on 27th October, the results will be declared. The tenure of the incumbent members on these 8 seats is ending on 16th November 2026. This election is considered to be the biggest opportunity to gauge the political pulse before the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, because the graduates and teachers who vote in it are considered to be the most aware voters of the society.

On which 8 seats is the election being held

This election is divided into two categories. The first is the Graduate Constituency and the second is the Teacher Constituency. There are 4 Graduate seats - Patna Graduate, Darbhanga Graduate, Tirhut Graduate and Kosi Graduate.

While there are 4 Teacher seats - Patna Teacher, Darbhanga Teacher, Tirhut Teacher and Saran Teacher. The scope of these seats not limited to one district, but each seat .

comprises 8 to 10 districts. Therefore, to win these seats, a large mass base and organization is needed.

164 Candidates in Fray, Darbhanga Graduate Hot Seat

A total of 164 candidates have filed nominations in this election. According to the election office, till the last date, 98 candidates filed papers for Graduate seats and 66 for Teacher seats. Darbhanga Graduate has become the hottest seat, where alone 40 candidates are in the fray. After this, there are 22 candidates in Patna Graduate, 20 in Tirhut Graduate and 16 in Kosi Graduate. Talking about the Teacher quota, 22 candidates in Patna Teacher, 19 in Saran Teacher, 14 in Darbhanga Teacher and 11 in Tirhut Teacher are trying their luck. Scrutiny of nomination papers was held on 7th October and candidates could withdraw their names till 9th October. Due to so many candidates, division of votes is certain and on many seats the winning margin may be less than 500 votes.

On one hand, the ruling NDA has made its .

strategy clear BJP has announced its candidates on 4 seats. Nawal Kishore Yadav from Patna Teacher, N.K. Yadav from Kosi Graduate, Sarvesh Kumar from Darbhanga Graduate and Narendra Prasad Singh from Tirhut Teacher have been given tickets. Bihar Health Minister Nishant Kumar on 13th October appealed in Nalanda that all graduate and teacher brothers should make NDA candidates win with a huge margin .

While in the opposition INDIA alliance, all is not well. Congress has fielded its candidates on 5 seats. This includes Madan Mohan Jha from Darbhanga Teacher, Sanjay Yadav from Patna Teacher, and Manoj Kumar Jaiswal, Rajnikant Pathak and Asadullah Khan on three graduate seats. The special thing is that on three seats Kosi Graduate, Darbhanga Graduate and Patna Graduate, Congress will have a direct contest with its ally RJD. RJD has also fielded its candidates. It is clear from this that in the MLC election, the alliance dharma has broken and both may suffer losses in the friendly fight. Jan Suraaj Party's Prashant Kishore is also trying to form a third front by fielding candidates on several seats.

Who can vote in this election? Know the full eligibility

This election is completely different from the general Lok Sabha or Assembly elections.

Not every citizen can vote in it. A separate voter list is made for this. To vote on the graduate seat, it is necessary that the voter has obtained a graduation degree from a recognized university at least 3 years ago and he is a resident of that constituency and has registered as a voter. To vote on the teacher seat, the person must have been working as a teacher in a secondary school, college or university for at least the last 3 years. This time the Commission has added thousands of new graduate and teacher voters by running a special campaign. These new voters will play the role of kingmaker in this election.

Election Process

According to the Election Commission, voting will be held on 23rd October from 8 am to 4 pm. Voting will be held simultaneously in all 8 constituencies. Tight security arrangements will be made. Ballot boxes will be kept in the strong room and counting will start from 8 am on 27th October. Results of all 8 seats will be declared by late evening on the same day. The Model Code of Conduct has come into force in these areas.

Why is this election important ?

Political experts believe that it is being called the semi-final of the 2025 assembly elections. The trend of graduate and teacher voters shows which side the mood of the educated class is. If NDA retains these seats, it will be a morale booster for it in the assembly elections. While if the INDIA alliance makes a dent, it will be a sign that the anti-incumbency wave has started. At present, all parties have put in their full strength and are waiting for 23rd October.