Nitish Kumar, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha earlier this month, is likely to resign from his post as a member of the Bihar Legislative Council on March 30. According to the Constitution, when a member of a state legislature is elected to Parliament, he or she must resign within 14 days of the election. Nitish was elected to the Rajya Sabha on March 16, and as per the law, he must resign from the MLC by March 30.
Besides Kumar, BJP national president Nitin Nabin is yet to resign from the Bihar Assembly as he rushed to Delhi to attend an important meeting.
“Both may resign on Monday, which is the last day. Nabin has some pressing commitments and that is no big deal,” HT reported earlier.
Read also | Prashant Kishor tells you this on Nitish Kumar leaving the CM chair: “Maybe my prediction of NDA was wrong, but…”
Under the Concurrent Membership Prohibition Rules 1950 (under Sections 101/190 of the Constitution), an elected member of both Parliament and the State Legislature must resign from one of them within 14 days.
Meanwhile, Sanjay Kumar Jha, a close aide of Nitish, said the same while speaking to reporters on Friday, but added that he did not know when the supremo would give up his seat, according to news agency PTI.
“The Constitution says that one must resign within 14 days. There is no confirmation whether Nitish will also resign from the post of Chief Minister after resigning from the MLC post,” Jha said when asked about reports that Kumar may step down from the MLC post on March 30.
However, some JD(U) leaders have indicated that any change of guard in Bihar could be delayed, citing provisions that allow a person to remain chief minister for up to six months without being a member of the state legislature, according to PTI.
Nitish did not even speak as he took oath as a member of the Rajya Sabha.
(With inputs from Arun Kumar)
