BJP names ex-Bihar dy CM Sushil Modi its candidate for RS bypoll

The BJP on Friday named former Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi its candidate for the byelection to a Rajya Sabha seat in the state.

Modi's election to the Upper House is all but certain as the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has a majority in the state assembly.

Election to the seat is due for December 14 if the rival alliance led by the RJD decides to contest.

The seat had fallen vacant following the death of Lok Janshakti Party founder and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

With the LJP out of the Bihar NDA after its decision to fight on its own in a bid to target Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U), a BJP ally, the saffron party has decided to reclaim the seat which it had offered to Paswan from its quota.

The BJP leadership had decided to not have Modi, one of its most prominent leaders in Bihar, continue as deputy minister in the state government after the recent assembly polls.

It instead chose two other leaders, Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi, as his replacement in what was seen as an attempt by the party to infuse a new crop of leadership in the state.