RJD to dominate with 130+ seats as Congress secures sizeable share.
New Delhi: The seat-sharing talks within the Congress-led Mahagathbandhan for the forthcoming Bihar Assembly elections have now entered their concluding phase, with sources indicating that the distribution formula has been finalised and that an official declaration will be made shortly.
As per alliance insiders, the Congress is set to contest between 62 and 66 of the 243 Assembly constituencies. A senior party leader, however, hinted that Congress might consider handing over two or three seats from its own quota to newly inducted, smaller allies so that they, too, receive a respectable share to contest from. “In this election, all partners of the alliance will need to accommodate fresh entrants by sparing seats from their respective quotas,” remarked Allavaru, the Congress in-charge for Bihar.
The Left parties, meanwhile, are slated to be allotted close to 30 seats in total, though they had been pressing for a significantly higher number. Despite their insistence, both the RJD and the Congress appeared firm on not increasing the Left’s tally beyond this figure.
Within the coalition, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) continues to dominate as the principal stakeholder. The party is expected to contest 125–130 seats, a number that had been more or less predetermined, given RJD’s strong performance in the last Assembly polls where it outpaced the BJP to emerge as the single largest party.
On the other hand, Mukesh Sahni’s Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) has been earmarked 12–15 seats, though reports suggest Sahni remains unhappy with the share. He had not only demanded a larger number of constituencies but also went on to declare that, should the Mahagathbandhan form the next government, he deserved to be made Deputy Chief Minister. The RJD leadership, however, refused to budge beyond the agreed arrangement. Additionally, Pashupati Kumar Paras’s faction is expected to be accommodated with around 5 seats.
Thus, the Mahagathbandhan’s finalised seat-sharing structure stands as follows: RJD will contest 130–135 seats, Congress 62–66, the Left parties 30, and VIP 12–15.
It is worth recalling that in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, the RJD had fielded candidates in 143 out of the 243 seats, while the Congress was allotted 70 constituencies. Among the Left, the CPI(ML) had secured 19 seats, while the CPI and CPM collectively contested 11.
