The Congress is set to contest 60 seats in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections as part of the Mahagathbandhan alliance with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other smaller parties, sources said on Monday. An official announcement regarding the seat-sharing deal is expected to be made tomorrow.
As per the sources, the seat-sharing arrangement between the Congress and the RJD has been finalised and there are no disputes between the two parties. Sources further added that the issues are only with RJD and other allies, including Mukesh Sahani’s Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP).
Tejashwi meets Congress leaders to finalise seat-sharing
Earlier today, RJD leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav met senior Congress leaders on Monday evening to finalise the seat-sharing arrangement ahead of the Bihar assembly polls. Sources said Yadav met Congress general secretary, Organisation, KC Venugopal, and the party's in-charge for Bihar, Krishna Allavaru, in New Delhi, where state Congress president Rajesh Ram was also present.
He was expected to meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, but it did not materialise.
The Congress will be contesting fewer seats than in the last assembly elections, due to its poor performance in the 2020 assembly polls, when it won 19 out of the 70 seats it contested. In comparison, the RJD contested 144 seats in 2020 and secured 75 seats in the 243-member Assembly.
None of the opposition Mahagathbandhan partners have announced the seat-sharing formula even though the ruling NDA announced its seat-sharing on Sunday.
NDA announces seat-sharing deal
The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Sunday announced its seat-sharing formula for the upcoming elections to the 243-member Bihar Assembly. As per the arrangement, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will each contest 101 seats, while the remaining constituencies have been allocated to the alliance's smaller partners.
This is the first time that the two top constituents of the NDA in the state are contesting an equal number of seats.
Union Minister Chirag Paswan, who leads the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will contest 29 seats this time. Meanwhile, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), headed by Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, led by Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha, have each been allotted six seats.
Bihar assembly polls are slated in two phases on November 6 and 11, and the counting of votes will be conducted on November 14. The filing of nominations began on October 10 for the first phase, in which 121 seats will go to the polls.
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