New DelhiJul 24, 2025 12:44 IST
First published on: Jul 24, 2025 at 12:44 IST
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With the Bihar Assembly elections slated for later this year, the Opposition Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) led by the RJD has intensified its seat-sharing process. Amid their negotiations, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) is learnt to have demanded 12 seats from the alliance’s leadership.
The JMM rules the neighbouring state of Jharkhand along with key Mahagathbandhan allies such as the Congress, RJD and CPI(ML)L. However, it is not part of the Opposition alliance in Bihar.
Sources said that an informal discussion between the JMM and the RJD has taken place over seat-sharing for the elections to the 243-member Bihar Assembly. However, a formal meeting between the two parties has not taken place so far in this regard.
In the 2020 Bihar polls, the JMM had contested five seats — Pirpainti, Katoria, Jhajha, Chakai and Manihari — on its own after its bid to join the Mahagathbandhan had failed. The JMM had then lost all the seats. The party had put up its best show in Chakai, where it got 8.96% votes.
To press its case this time, the JMM is citing the case of the 2024 Jharkhand polls, when it had given
the RJD six seats and a ministerial post after the alliance’s return to power. In the polls for the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, the JMM had won 34 seats, Congress 16, RJD 4, with the CPI(ML)L getting 2 seats.
“It is time for RJD to return the favour. We are sure that RJD will include JMM in the grand alliance this time and give us a decent number of seats in the upcoming polls,” said a senior JMM leader.
The JMM’s Bihar general secretary Satiraman Singh told The Indian Express that the party has given a list of its 12 “strong seats” to the RJD, which include Tarapur, Belhar, Katoria, Chakai, Jhajaha, Dhamdaha, Manihari.
The JMM’s demand for seats could make seat-sharing more difficult for the Mahagathbandhan. The Congress is pushing for 70 seats, the same number of seats which it contested in the 2020 Assembly polls. The RJD is said to be unwilling to cede more than 50-55 seats to the Congress.
Their negotiations had officially begun last month when senior Mahagathbandhan leaders held a meeting in Patna and decided to prepare a list of their prospective candidates.
The Nitish Kumar-led NDA had won the 2020 polls, winning 125 seats as against the Mahagathbandhan’s 110. The RJD had bagged 75 seats out of 144 it contested, emerging as the single largest party. The Congress could win just 19 seats of 70 it contested. The CPI(ML), CPI and CPI(M) had contested in 19, 6 and 4 seats respectively.
Recently, Rajesh Ranjan, popularly known as Pappu Yadav, the Independent MP from Purnea, had called for including the JMM in Bihar’s grand alliance. Pappu Yadav, who is associated with the Congress, has said: “The Congress wants Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to be part of the alliance. Hemant Soren (JMM chief and Jharkhand Chief Minister) should be part of us. Over 2-2.5% voters acknowledge Hemant Soren as their leader.”