As Bihar Assembly elections are approaching, confusion and competition regarding seats within the Grand Alliance is increasing. The allies are facing each other in many assembly constituencies, due to which questions are being raised on the unity of the alliance.

Efforts may have been made to coordinate seats between RJD, Congress, Left parties and VIP, but the equations at the ground level are telling a different story. Friendly competition has developed at many places, where the constituent parties of the Grand Alliance are directly challenging each other.

The most interesting contest will take place on these 6 seats.

The most interesting situation has arisen in seats like Warisaliganj, Narkatiaganj, Kahalgaon, Sultanganj, Vaishali and Sikandra. Both RJD and Congress have fielded their candidates in these areas. For example, from Warisaliganj, RJD has fielded Anita Devi Mahato, while Congress has given ticket to Satish Kumar. Similarly, in Narkatiaganj, Deepak Yadav of RJD will face Shashwat Kedar Pandey of Congress.

RJD’s Rajneesh Bharti and Congress’s Praveen Singh Kushwaha are face to face in Kahalgaon. In Sultanganj too, an interesting contest will be seen between Chandan Sinha (RJD) and Lalan Kumar (Congress). There will be a direct contest between RJD’s Ajay Kushwaha and Congress’s E. Sanjeev Singh on Vaishali seat. On Sikandra seat, experienced leaders of both the parties, Uday Narayan Choudhary of RJD and Vinod Choudhary of Congress are fighting the electoral battle with each other.

Direct confrontation between Congress and Left parties at many places

Within the Grand Alliance, there is a situation of direct competition between Congress and Left parties at many places. Both Congress and CPI have fielded candidates on seats like Bachhwara, Biharsharif, Karghar and Rajapakar. Congress’s Garib Das will face CPI’s Awadhesh Rai from Bachhwara, while Shiv Kumar Yadav (Congress) and Omair Khan (CPI) are facing each other in Biharsharif. Santosh Mishra of Congress will face Mahendra Gupta of CPI on Karghar seat. Whereas in Rajapakar seat, Pratima Das from Congress and Mohit Paswan from CPI are in the fray.

Clash between RJD and VIP on these two seats

Apart from this, a situation of conflict has also arisen between RJD and VIP party. In Babubarhi, RJD’s Arun Kushwaha will face VIP’s Bindu Gulab Yadav, while in Chainpur seat, VIP’s Balgovind Bind is in the fray against RJD’s Braj Kishore Singh.

Political analysts believe that competition within the grand alliance on these seats can harm the opposition alliance. While BJP and JDU have maintained tight coordination in candidate selection, this “friendly fight” of the Grand Alliance may prove to be an advantage for the ruling NDA on many seats.

There is still no consensus regarding seat sharing in the grand alliance for Bihar Assembly elections 2025. The dispute has escalated to such an extent that now RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav is reaching Delhi, where his meeting with Rahul Gandhi is considered fixed. Despite continuous meetings in Patna, things were not working out, hence now the decision will be taken at Delhi level.

If sources are to be believed, Congress has rejected RJD’s offer of 50 seats and is adamant on contesting on 60 seats. At the same time, Congress has given an ultimatum to RJD in the next 24 hours to take a final decision on seat sharing, otherwise Congress will release the list of its candidates for the first phase.

RJD is preparing to contest elections on 130 to 138 seats and is not ready to come under pressure from any ally. The party says that it has the largest support base in the alliance, hence the distribution of tickets should also be in the same proportion.

RJD not ready to give more than 50 seats to Congress

The biggest controversy has come to light regarding Congress. RJD is not ready to give more than 50 seats to Congress, whereas Congress wants more share on the basis of its old support base and sitting seats. Not only this, Tejashwi Yadav is also eyeing some existing seats of Congress, due to which the tension between the two parties has increased.

On the other hand, RJD’s talks with Pashupati Paras’s party are also stuck. Paras is adamant on the demand of eight seats, but Tejashwi Yadav offered him to merge his party. After this, Paras’s party has called an emergency meeting.

Difficulty regarding equation increased with left parties also

Equations with left parties are also difficult. CPI (ML) is demanding 30 seats, but Tejashwi is not ready to give more than 22. CPI has come up with a list of 24 seats, but RJD is adamant on leaving only seven seats. Similarly, CPM is demanding 10 seats, but Tejashwi is not ready to give more than five seats. Mukesh Saini also wants 30 seats, but RJD has offered him only 18 seats.

No agreement reached between BJP and allies

Here, in the NDA camp too, there is a dilemma over seat sharing. Meetings are going on continuously in Delhi. According to sources, Chirag Paswan is adamant on 29 seats, Upendra Kushwaha on seven seats and Jitan Ram Manjhi is also adamant on his share of seats. No final agreement has been reached between BJP leaders and allies yet.

It is noteworthy that voting for Bihar Assembly elections will be held on 6th and 11th November, while the results will be declared on 14th November. But despite the election date approaching, the equation of seats is still hanging in the balance.

Before the assembly elections in Bihar, the stir regarding seat sharing within the NDA has intensified. A meeting of leaders of JDU, HAM, RLSP and LJPR was held at the residence of BJP President JP Nadda in Delhi, in which seat sharing was discussed. According to sources, a consensus has not yet been reached regarding seats in this meeting. It is being told that JDU and Manjhi’s party are not able to agree on the seats demanded by Chirag. It is being told that JDU leaders have cleared the BJP high command that only they should deal with Chirag, JDU will not deal with him.

JDU is not ready to give its seats to Mehnar, Matihani and Chakai Chirag. Mahnar is the seat of JDU state president Umesh Kushwaha, while Chirag’s party had won in Matihani 2020, but now the MLA has joined JDU. Chakai has independent MLA Sumit Singh, who has the support of JDU.

BJP is not ready to give its Govindganj seat to Chirag. At the same time, Manjhi’s party is not ready to give its Sikandra seat to Chirag. According to sources, Chirag is claiming those seats where his candidates can win, due to which this matter of seats is stuck in NDA. BJP has asked JDU to deal with Chirag itself.

What did RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha say?

RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha has clarified that the claim being made in media reports that a final agreement has been reached on seat sharing within the NDA and some seats are being given to his party is wrong. Upendra Kushwaha said that the talks have not been completely concluded yet and it is continuing. Based on further information given by the BJP leadership, his team is going to Delhi, where talks will be held.

He also said that his party will not publicly reveal how many seats it wants. If necessary, a detailed discussion will be held with the concerned parties.

This decision was taken in LJP meeting

According to sources, the Parliamentary Board has given LJP President Chirag Paswan the authority to take the final decision on seat sharing for the NDA alliance. Currently, discussions are going on on 5-6 seats, which are such where allies also want to field their candidates. At present, there is no possibility of alliance breaking or doubt arising during talks on this issue.

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