Patna: The Rajya Sabha polls are around the corner and it's the possibility of a "seventh" candidate joining the hunt for the six seats that is haunting political parties in Bihar.

The BJP, with 52 MLAs, will be sending one MP to the Rajya Sabha; the RJD and JDU, with 79 and 70 MLAs respectively, will be sending two each.

The Congress, which has 27 MLAs, will need the help of its ally to secure the victory of its candidate. The BJP and its allies have 22 additional votes while the RJD will have nine.

Currently, the number of sitting MLAs is 240. If a seventh candidate files his nomination, each candidate will need 35 first preference votes to win.

None of the parties - be it the RJD, JDU or the Congress - want polling to be held for the six seats from Bihar that are falling vacant. But political sources said the BJP could field a seventh candidate just to ensure the defeat of the Congress. "The seventh candidate would force elections; money-power and cross-voting will come in to play," said a senior RJD leader who spoke under cover of anonymity. "The best thing would be that only six candidates contest and get elected unopposed. If a seventh candidate files his nomination papers, it will lead to a political churning."

For now, all three parties are keeping their cards close to their chest. "We will announce our candidates after March 9, when electioneering comes to an end for the bypolls," said RJD leader Rabri Devi.

The last date for filing of nominations is Monday for the elections set for March 23.

So far, only one of the candidatures is certain. The BJP will re-nominate Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who will be making it to the Upper House for the fourth consecutive time. The other Union minister who is retiring from the Rajya Sabha, Dharmendra Pradhan, is to be shifted, either to Uttar Pradesh or Madhya Pradesh.

JDU leaders indicate that while state party chief Bashistha Narayan Singh may be repeated, there will be a "new candidate" to replace Mahendra Prasad Singh, popularly known as King Mahendra.

RJD leaders maintained they were in the dark about the party's candidates and are awaiting "instructions" from Ranchi jail where Lalu Prasad is lodged.

Talks in political circles have thrown up a surprise name - that of Rajeev Shukla, the former Congress Union minister who had once won by a surprising number of votes in the UP Rajya Sabha polls as an Independent. Another name cropping up in Congress circles is that of former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.

RJD leaders are not ruling out the possibility of King Mahendra returning to the Rajya Sabha on their party ticket. However, if he is not given a ticket, he may contest as an Independent candidate with the backing of surplus NDA votes and hope that Congress MLAs vote in his favour.