Polling for biennial elections to eight Bihar Legislative Council seats began at 8 a.m. on Friday (October 23, 2026) amid tight security, with 5.32 lakh voters eligible to decide the fate of 150 candidates, officials said.

Voting will continue till 4 p.m. for four Graduates and four Teachers constituencies, they said.

The combined electorate stands at 5,32,847, including 1,46,611 women and 37 third-gender voters, across 933 polling stations. Counting of votes will take place on October 27, they added.

The contest in the Patna Graduates constituency has drawn attention following an open rift within the JD(U), with Mokama MLA Anant Singh backing Jan Suraaj Party candidate Anuj Singh against his own party’s nominee, Neeraj Kumar.

Mr. Kumar, a former minister and a close aide of former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, is seeking a fourth consecutive term from the seat.

Anant Singh has extended support to Anuj Singh, alleging that Neeraj Kumar had worked against him during last year’s assembly elections.

Apart from Patna Graduates, the other constituencies going to polls are Darbhanga Graduates, Tirhut Graduates, Kosi Graduates, Patna Teachers, Darbhanga Teachers, Tirhut Teachers and Saran Teachers.

The terms of the sitting MLCs are due to expire on November 16.

The BJP has fielded candidates in four constituencies, including three sitting MLCs seeking re-election, while the JD(U) has nominated candidates for the remaining four seats.

The BJP nominees are MLCs Nawal Kishor Yadav, N. K. Yadav and Sarvesh Kumar, who are seeking re-election from Patna Teachers, Kosi Graduates and Tirhut Graduates, respectively.

The party has also fielded Narendra Kumar Singh from Tirhut Teachers, a seat currently held by Sanjay Kumar Singh of the CPI, a constituent of the opposition INDIA bloc.

The Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), led by Prashant Kishor, is contesting all eight seats. The party revised its candidate list after its initial announcement, replacing Bhushan Jha with Shyam Nandan Yadav in Tirhut Teachers and Ravindra Yadav with Mohammad Imtiyaz (Noorani) in Darbhanga Graduates.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Mahesh Kumar Goud on Tuesday backed Congress leaders Addanki Dayakar (MLC) and Sama Ram Mohan Reddy in their allegations against BRS Legislature Party (BRSLP) deputy leader T. Harish Rao. He repeated the allegations they had levelled earlier, even though Mr. Rao had served legal notices on them regarding the claims and demanded him to explain the purpose of his visits to various places in Tamil Nadu.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan, Mr. Goud claimed there was “evidence” that Mr. Harish Rao visited Tiruchirappalli on March 2 and Shivamogga on June 1. He demanded that the BRS MLA disclose the purpose of those visits and explain his alleged activities at Yadagirigutta.

Backing the Congress leaders who made the allegations earlier, Mr. Goud said they should not be intimidated by legal notices and maintained that they had merely spoken the truth. He alleged that the notices were intended to silence criticism and asserted that the Congress would continue to raise the issue.

Responding to questions on election strategist and Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor’s victory from Bankipur, the TPCC president said that JSP was not associated with the Congress party. He also claimed that the BJP was facing growing public opposition and political setbacks.