Hours before Rajya Sabha polling, AIMIM announces to vote for RJD candidate

NDA is facing a tight race in the Rajya Sabha elections, falling short of the 3 votes needed to win all five seats. The main opposition party, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), relies on support from five All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLAs and a lone Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA to secure victory. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has two candidates: Nitin Nabin and Shivesh Kumar, while Janata Dal (United) (JD-U) fields Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and sitting Rajya Sabha member Ramnath Thakur. The remaining candidate is from the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM), led by Upendra Kushwaha. The RJD has 25 MLAs, including support from Congress, left parties, and the Indian Inclusive Party (IIP). NDA needs 205 MLAs to win all five seats. The opposition camp requires 6 more votes for a victory. This makes cross-voting a possibility as no party whip can be issued for Rajya Sabha polling. To secure their desired outcome, RJD, led by Tejashwi Yadav, has shifted its MLA to a private hotel in Patna. Lesi Singh, a JD-U minister, criticized the move, calling it "house arrest" for the MLAs. The NDA camp is confident of securing more votes than anticipated and all five candidates will win their seats. Sanjay Jha, the JD-U national working president, expressed confidence in the NDA's success. Meanwhile, I P Gupta, an IIP MLA, claimed that JD(U) MLAs are upset with the BJP for removing Nitish Kumar from his position as CM and would vote based on their conscience.