PATNA: With the assembly election just a few months away, the state govt on Friday appointed former BJP MLC Mahachandra Prasad Singh as chairman of the State Commission for Upper Castes and Shailendra Kumar as chairman of the State Scheduled Tribes (ST) Commission. Shailendra hails from West Champaran district.A day earlier, the state govt had appointed JD(U) leader Ghulam Rasool Baliyavi as chairman of the Bihar Minority Commission. Baliyavi had earlier criticised the NDA govt over the new waqf law.Sardar Lakhwinder Singh (Lakkha) from Kishanganj has been named vice-chairman of the ST Commission while Shishir Kumar Das, president of the Kishanganj Bar Association, has been appointed as a member.According to the notification issued by the general administration department, the tenure of all appointees will be three years from the date they assume office.JD(U)’s Rajiv Ranjan Prasad has been appointed vice-president of the Upper Castes Commission with Dayanand Rai of Darbhanga, Jai Krishna Jha of Patna and Rajkumar Singh of Bhagalpur as members.For the ST Commission, Surendra Oraon of West Champaran has been named vice-president while Premshila Gupta and Tallu Baski of Katihar and Raju Kumar of Buxar have been appointed members.Maulana Umar Noorani will serve as vice-chairman of the Minority Commission. The members will include Mukesh Kumar Jain, Afroza Khatoon, Ashraf Ali Ansari, Mohd Shamshad Alam alias Shamshad Sai, Tufail Ahmed Khan Qadri, Shishir Kumar Das, Rajesh Kumar Jain and Ajfar Shamshi.Expressing his gratitude to CM Nitish Kumar and senior BJP leaders, Mahachandra said, “This is not only a matter of respect for me personally, but it is also an acceptance of the aspirations of millions of poor and backward upper caste families who have been struggling with their problems for years.”The purpose of these commissions is to safeguard the rights and interests of these communities and to ensure that govt schemes intended for them are being properly implemented.