The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Tuesday nominated Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) leader and former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha as its candidate for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Bihar.

The move comes after Upendra lost the Lok Sabha polls from the Karakat constituency. He is expected to fill the seat that has fallen vacant after the BJP Rajya Sabha member Vivek Thakur was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Nawada seat.

If elected, Upendra will have a tenure of less than two years, till April 2026. It is the remaining part of the six-year term of Vivek, who became a Rajya Sabha member in April 2020. There are speculations that he could be accommodated in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ministry.

The other Rajya Sabha seat that has fallen vacant in the state is of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Misa Bharti after she was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Patliputra constituency. She had become a Rajya Sabha member for the second time in 2022 and her party is expected to field a candidate for the vacant seat soon.

Upendra thanked the Prime Minister, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, Union home minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J.P. Nadda and leaders of other NDA constituents for being chosen as the candidate for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha bypolls. He also expressed gratitude to the workers of all parties in the NDA.

“I will raise issues pertaining to Bihar vigorously in Parliament. The Luv–Kush (Kurmi and Kushwaha or Koeri) castes are among the core voters of the NDA. Combined with Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s vote banks, the alliance is a formidable force and we will contest the Assembly elections with full strength,” Upendra said.

The Kurmi and Kushwaha castes claim their origin to Lord Ram’s sons Luv and Kush, respectively. While the former are around three per cent of the state’s population, the latter are over four per cent. Most of the time they work in close tandem. Nitish Kumar hails from the Kurmi caste.

Upendra’s defeat from Karakat, despite being a frontrunner in the beginning, is a tale of political chicanery. It started with the Kushwahas not voting for the BJP candidate Sushil Kumar Singh in Aurangabad in the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls on April 19. They chose to vote for the RJD candidate Abhay Kushwaha.

To top it, Upendra did not campaign vigorously for the NDA, despite his constituency being slated to vote in the last phase on June 1.

The Kushwahas were also swayed by the fact that the RJD and the INDIA alliance went all out to attract them by fielding seven candidates of their caste out of a total of 40 in Bihar.

Annoyed by this, a couple of senior BJP leaders connived to import Bhojpuri singer and actor Pawan Singh to contest from Karakat as an independent candidate and teach Upendra a lesson. He was previously given a ticket from Asansol in Bengal but had to give it up after protests erupted over his lewd songs on women.

Pawan, who hails from the Rajput caste, sliced into the NDA votes. He got 2.75 lakh votes in Karakat, pushing Upendra with 2.54 lakh votes to the third position, while CPIML leader Raja Ram Singh emerged the winner with 3.81 lakh votes.

However, this boomeranged on the BJP as the Kushwahas sensed the plot and did not vote for the NDA. It was one of the major reasons that led to the defeat in Ara, Sasaram, Buxar and Patliputra seats.

Upendra also voiced his anger over the conspiracy behind his loss without taking any names.

The BJP, with eyes on the 2025 Assembly elections, realised its mistake and decided to make amends by choosing Upendra for the Rajya Sabha. It also took notice that the RJD made Abhay Kushwaha the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha.

This resulted in accommodating Upendra and also Nitish Kumar’s JDU fielding Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha for the lone vacant MLC seat for which polls are to be held on July 12.