Patna, March 11 (IANS): After Mahagathbandhan leaders, three candidates of the BJP on Monday filed their nominations for the MLC elections in Bihar scheduled to be held on March 21.

Former Bihar minister Mangal Pandey, Anamika Singh Patel, and Lal Mohan Gupta filed their nominations on Monday in the presence of state BJP President and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, and other BJP leaders.

Earlier, former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Urmila Thakur, and Syed Faisal Ali, all under the RJD quota, and Shashi Yadav of the CPI-ML had filed nominations for the MLC elections.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Khalid Anwar under the JD-U quota had already filed their nominations for the MLC polls.

“The BJP has always given respect to women, and I am a prime example of that. I am a ground-level worker, yet the party has given me a chance to contest the MLC polls. The opposition leaders are talking about women's reservation, but they are only promoting their family members,” said Anamika Patel.

The tenure of 11 MLCs -- Nitish Kumar (JD-U), Rabri Devi (RJD), Shahnawaz Hussain (BJP), Sanjay Kumar Jha (JD-U), Prem Chandra Mishra (Congress), Santosh Kumar Suman (HAM-S), Mangal Pandey (BJP), Ramchandra Purve (RJD), Khalid Anwar (JD-U), Rameshwar Mahto (JD-U), and Sanjay Paswan (BJP) -- will end on May 6.

As per the Election Commission's notification, the nomination process started on March 4 and ended on Monday. The candidates can withdraw their names till March 14, before the voting takes place on March 21. The results will be announced on the same day.