Patna: Patna high court has issued notices to 42 members of the Bihar legislative assembly in connection with petitions alleging electoral irregularities and alleged discrepancies in their election affidavits.
The notices follow a series of election petitions (EP) filed by defeated candidates from various constituencies who have challenged the victories of the sitting MLAs.Two separate (single) benches of Justices S B Pd Singh and Ashok Kumar Pandey are hearing a total of 45 election petitions (EPs) filed separately between Dec 5, 2025 to Jan 8, 2026. However notices have not been issued on three such petitions, including one filed against BJP veteran Prem Kumar (present speaker ) and another filed against Nitish Mishra—BJP legislator from Jhanjharpur seat in Madhubani district.First such petition in connection with the 2025 assembly elections was filed in the HC by Manish Yadav on Dec 5 last year, against Devyanti Devi, BJP legislator from Narpatganj constituency in Araria district.Chetan Anand, JD(U) candidate from Nabinagar constituency, has been issued notice on petition of Amod Kumar Singh, who lost elections by 112 votes only; whereas Ranvijay Kumar Singh has challenged the election of RJD MLA from Goh assembly seat Amrendra Kumar alias Amrendra Kushwaha. Both these cases are being argued by election law expert Ravi Ranjan.Election of Sandeep Saurav—CPI (ML) legislator from Paliganj seat— has also been challenged by petitioner Anand Kumar, while Sangita Devi of LJP(RV), who emerged victorious from Balrampur constituency in Katihar district, received HC notice on petition of Adil Hasan of AIMIM who lost the election by just 369 votes.Out of 42 notices served on sitting legislators, one sent to Ghosi MLA Rituraj Kumar (JD-U) returned undelivered with a postal remark “door locked”, hence the high court ordered the election petitioner Rakesh Kumar Singh to get the same notice published in two newspapers having circulation in Bihar, which includes TOI.In all such petitions, the Election Commission has been made a common defendant, represented by its counsel Siddharth Prasad.
