Bihar Elections: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Monday released its list of 143 candidates for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. The development effectively ended the long-running seat-sharing negotiations within the opposition’s ‘Mahagathbandhan’ or ‘Grand’ alliance. The announcement of names of candidates from Rashtriya Janata Dal – the alliance’s largest party – comes without any official announcement of seats shared between the parties. And as things stand in the alliance, the RJD is contesting 143, Congress 61, CPI ML 20 and the remaining constituencies in the 243-seat contest are likely to go to Mukesh Sahani’s VIP, according to an informal arrangement. ‘Political conspiracy’: JMM withdraws The opposition alliance suffered a blow when the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) formally withdrew from the election at the last minute on Monday, the last day of filing nominations for the second phase of polling. The announcement by JMM comes days after Jharkhand’s ruling party announced its six candidates for the Bihar polls. The party has accused its INDIA bloc partners, the RJD and the Congress, of a “political conspiracy” that led to it being deprived of seats as part of the Mahagathbandhan coalition in Bihar. Senior JMM leader Sudivya Kumar said his party will review the alliance in Jharkhand with the Congress and RJD and give a befitting reply to the “snub”. “The RJD and Congress are responsible for depriving JMM of contesting the election as part of a political conspiracy. JMM will give a befitting reply to this and review its alliance with RJD and Congress,” Kumar told reporters on Monday. In Bihar elections 2020, the JMM was also assured of three seats by the RJD and the Congress, but later they divided the seats among themselves, cheating us, said Kumar, who is also a minister in the Jharkhand government under Hemant Soren. “In last year’s Jharkhand polls, the JMM left a respectable number of seats for the Congress, RJD and the Left, but the party was humiliated again in the Bihar elections in 2025,” Kumar said. Elections to 243 seats of the Bihar Assembly will be held on November 6 and November 11. The results will be announced on November 14. Jharkhand Minister Kumar said that a meeting on seat distribution was held in Patna on October 7 which he and his colleague Vinod Pandey attended. “From October 7 to October 20, the RJD was engaged in manipulation, and the Congress supported them in this behaviour,” he said. All is not well within the INDIA bloc Clearly, all is not well within the opposition INDIA bloc in poll-bound Bihar. The Congress and the Left were engaged in high-level talks till the last minute to resolve the issue arising out of multiple nominations filed in at least 11 disputed seats, according to media reports. One of the major points of contention among the allies was the multiple nominations submitted by leaders of the alliance partners on Lalganj, Vaishali, Rajapakar, Rosera, Biharsharif, Bachhwara, Tarapur, Kahalgaon, Chainpur, Gaura Bauram and Kargahar, according to a report in Hindustan Times. NDA vs INDIA Block The Bihar Election 2025 is expected to be a contest between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Mahagathbandhan. The NDA includes the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Janata Dal (United), the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha. The RJD-led Mahagathbandhan also included the Congress Party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML) led by Deepankar Bhattacharya, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), and Mukesh Sahani’s Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP) included. Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj is also contesting on all 243 seats of the state in the upcoming two-phase poll. ‘No such thing called friendly fights’: Chirag Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan slammed the opposition Mahagathbandhan saying that there is no such thing called ‘friendly’ fights. Paswan said the dispute within the INDIA bloc over seat sharing will favor National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidates on many seats in upcoming Bihar polls. Paswan, who leads the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), is part of the NDA. His party is contesting 29 seats in the upcoming Bihar elections. The RJD and the Congress are responsible for depriving JMM of contesting the election as part of a political conspiracy. Talking to reporters in Patna about the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress fighting ‘friendly’ contests, Paswan said, “There is nothing called a friendly fight, either you are friends or fight with each other. The friendly conflict does not happen in politics; that is wrong terminology.” For now, the nominations for both phases have ended. If there is a change in any candidate, there is an option to withdraw the nomination for the second phase by Thursday 23 October. (With agency input)
Bihar Elections: INDIA bloc hit by last-minute JMM exit – where do Congress, RJD and others stand as polls approach?
