11-26-2010, 10:02 PM
[size="4"][url="http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nitish-landslide-leaves-no-qualified-opposition-party-in-bihar/716382/"]Nitish landslide leaves no qualified Opposition party in Bihar[/url][/size]
No party is qualified to get the Opposition party status in Bihar Legislative Assembly in the wake of a landslide victory of the Nitish Kumar-led NDA in the just-concluded Assembly elections in the state.
To get the opposition party status, a political party has to secure at least ten per cent seats of the total strength of the state Assembly in accordance with the Bihar Legislative Assembly rules.
This means to qualify for the status a party has to get at least 24 seats in the state Assembly which has an effective strength of 243. Neither Lalu Prasad's RJD with 22 seats and its pre-poll ally LJP with only three seats fit the bill.
The Congress with four seats and CPI and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) bagging a seat each do not qualify either.
"As per the constitutional norms, RJD does not qualify for the status of an Opposition party. Since such a situation has emerged for the first time in Bihar, the issue has to be settled as per the legislative traditions in other states and Parliament," said former chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council and senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.
No party is qualified to get the Opposition party status in Bihar Legislative Assembly in the wake of a landslide victory of the Nitish Kumar-led NDA in the just-concluded Assembly elections in the state.
To get the opposition party status, a political party has to secure at least ten per cent seats of the total strength of the state Assembly in accordance with the Bihar Legislative Assembly rules.
This means to qualify for the status a party has to get at least 24 seats in the state Assembly which has an effective strength of 243. Neither Lalu Prasad's RJD with 22 seats and its pre-poll ally LJP with only three seats fit the bill.
The Congress with four seats and CPI and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) bagging a seat each do not qualify either.
"As per the constitutional norms, RJD does not qualify for the status of an Opposition party. Since such a situation has emerged for the first time in Bihar, the issue has to be settled as per the legislative traditions in other states and Parliament," said former chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council and senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.