Patna, March 16: It?s official ? Nitish Kumar will contest the biennial elections to the Legislative Council.

The Bihar chief minister will contest the council polls to enter the state legislature as required under the Constitution.

Nitish, like deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, is currently a member of the Lok Sabha. Both have to get elected to the legislature within six months to continue in their posts.

The chief minister, who was authorised by his party to finalise the candidates for simultaneous polls to the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council, today cleared the names of three nominees to the Upper House, including sitting Rashtriya Janata Dal member Mahendra Prasad, who is scheduled to retire on April 2.

Prasad, a businessman who had been in Parliament in the past on Congress and RJD tickets, is said to be a ?surprise? nominee on the Janata Dal (United) list.

The other Rajya Sabha candidates are Ali Anwar and Mahendra Sahni, said a release signed by Dal(U) state president and Lok Sabha member Rajiv Ranjan Singh.

The JD(U) nominees to the Legislative Council are Nitish, Ramashray Prasad Singh and Narendra Singh (both cabinet ministers) and Nagmani, a minister of state in the former NDA government in Delhi.

Under an agreement reached with the BJP, the Dal(U) will contest three Rajya Sabha and four Legislative Council seats.

The BJP, on the other hand, will field one candidate to the Upper House and three to the Legislative Council.

While former Union information and broadcasting minister Ravishankar Prasad is the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls, Modi and Baleshwar Singh Bharti are the party nominees to the council. The party was expected to announce its third nominee for the council polls later today.

Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Janata Dal nominated the chairman of the Legislative Council, Jabir Hussain, as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections on March 29.

RJD president Lalu Prasad cleared the names of Hussain and Rajniti Prasad, an advocate, for the two Rajya Sabha seats the party is contesting.

Former minister Shyam Rajak said Uday Narain Rai and Bheem Singh are the nominees for the two council seats the party is contesting.

The RJD will support Congress candidate Chandan Bagchi for the third seat.