Nine of Bihar's newly elected legislators sworn-in

Nine of the 10 newly-elected legislators were sworn-in Thursday as the members of the Bihar state assembly by Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary here, officials said.

The legislators were elected to the state assembly in by-elections Aug 21, the results of which were announced Aug 25.

Last month, the RJD, JD-U and Congress alliance stunned the BJP by winning six of the 10 assembly seats for which bypolls were held in the state. The RJD won three seats, the JD-U got two seats while the Congress wrested the Bhagalpur seat from the BJP after 23 years.

The BJP won four seats - Hajipur, Mohania, Narkatiaganj and Banka. Its ally, the Lok Janshakti Party, was routed in the by-polls.

During the 2010 assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won six seats, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) three while the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) got one of these 10 seats.

Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, former chief minister Nitish Kumar and six ministers were present when the newly-elected members were sworn-in.

Bihar's ruling JD-U has 119 members in the state assembly and enjoys the support of 24 RJD members, five Congress legislators, one CPI member and two Independents. The opposition BJP has 84 members. There are three Independent members, and one seat is vacant.