RJD leader Manoj Jha takes oath as RS MP for 2nd term alongside 6 others

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and spokesperson of the party Manoj Jha on Wednesday took oath as a member of Rajya Sabha for his second consecutive term in the House.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar administered the oath to Jha in the Parliament House.

"Hon'ble Vice-President of India & Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar administered oath to the elected Members of Rajya Sabha in Parliament House today," the vice president's office said in a post on X while sharing pictures of the oath-taking.

Notably, all six Rajya Sabha candidates from Bihar were elected unopposed to the Upper House of Parliament comprising two members each from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), along with one each from Janata Dal (United) and Congress.

The BJP fielded its State vice-president Bhim Singh and president of State women's wing president Dharmsheela Gupta (from the Extremely Backward Class and Other Backward Classes, respectively) while the RJD nominated Manoj Jha and Sanjay Yadav, political advisor of party leader Tejashwi Yadav, into the fray.

State Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh, a sitting parliamentarian, fought the election again while the JD(U) went with Sanjay Jha, who is a close associate of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, for the Rajya Sabha. Jha had also been Minister in the Cabinet of the previous Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) government led by Nitish Kumar from August 2022 to January 2024.

The terms of six MPs -- Bashistha Narayan Singh and Anil Hegde from JD(U); Sushil Kumar Modi (BJP); Manoj Kumar Jha and Ashfaq Karim (RJD); and State Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh -- had fallen vacant.

On Wednesday, a total of 12 members took oath in the House as members of Rajya Sabha, including Union Minister L Murugan and Dharmshila Gupta, Sanjay Yadav, Govindbhai Laljibhai Dholakia, Subhash Chander, Harsh Mahajan, G.C. Chandrashekhar, and Chandrakant Handore.