HOURS to go for the end of the deadline to file nominations for 121 seats voting in the first phase, the Mahagathbandhan alliance in Bihar was still struggling to seal a deal, with sources saying at least three seats remain a bone of contention.
With the two main NDA allies BJP and JD(U) already declaring their full lists, one of the Mahagathbandhan partners, Mukesh Sahani of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), almost walked out of the tie-up on Wednesday night. Highly placed sources talked of a communications breakdown between the RJD and Congress, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi speaking to RJD president Lalu Prasad in a bid to break the same Thursday.
The three constituencies on which matters are stuck are said to be Kahalgaon, Vaishali and Jale. With little time left, sources said, the allies may go ahead and file nominations and later withdraw candidates from constituencies as needed.
Despite phones being worked at multiple levels, as of Thursday evening, a breakthrough evaded the Opposition alliance. Sources said that Lalu cited the need to accommodate smaller allies like the VIP and Left parties to persuade the Congress to agree to a lower number, while Gandhi and Kharge insisted that the Congress had enough momentum after the Voter Adhikar Yatra led by Gandhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav to deserve around 60 seats. In 2020, the Congress contested 70 constituencies and won 19.
“Both parties are demanding that they should get Kahalgaon, Vaishali and Jale. And so the issues persist,” a source in the Congress said.
In the 2020 Assembly polls, the Kahalgaon seat, located in Bhagalpur district, was contested by the Congress as part of its alliance with the RJD. The BJP’s Pawan Kumar Yadav won, with the Congress’s Shubhanand Mukesh losing by 42,893 votes. This time, the Kahalgaon ticket was promised by the RJD to a Yadav candidate, reportedly without consulting the Congress.
Even as the Congress was smarting at that, Tejashwi chose to start his Assembly election campaign from Kahalgaon. At his rally, Tejashwi was accompanied by the RJD’s chosen candidate Rajnish Yadav, who is Jharkhand minister Sanjay Yadav’s son.
Vaishali seat in Vaishali district too had been contested by the Congress in 2020. Here, it wants to repeat its candidate Sanjeev Singh, who lost by a narrow margin of 7,413 votes to the JD(U)’s Siddharth Patel in 2020.
The Congress has been insisting that it does not want to be saddled with only “difficult” seats, and wants at the minimum those constituencies which it won in 2020 or where it finished second.
From the Jale seat in Darbhanga district, the Congress wants to field Mohammed Naushad Alam. He was the leader who organised the rally during which an alleged slur was made against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Voter Adhikar Yatra in August. With the BJP creating an uproar over the issue, the Congress wants to send a message with a ticket to Alam.
However, the RJD leadership feels this may prove counterproductive and help the NDA across the state.
Apart from these three seats, differences continue over the overall number of constituencies to be fought by allies as well. Sahani remains upset at a reported offer of 20 seats, when he wants double that. But more seats to the VIP may leave the Left fuming. Currently, the CPI (M-L) L, which won 12 constituencies last time, is also being offered 20 seats.
Sources said Sahani had made up his mind to leave the alliance, but a call from the Gandhi family late on Wednesday night placated him.
Of the other Mahagathbandhan allies, two seats each are expected to go to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party of Pashupati Paras.
With a deal still pending, the Congress surprised many by posting names of 13 candidates on X on Wednesday night, including state president Rajesh Ram from Kutumba seat. This announcement came hours after Tejashwi filed his nomination from Raghopur.
The 13 constituencies in Congress list included Bachhwara, from where it declared its Bihar Youth Congress president Prakash Garib Das as the candidate. Das is former MLA Ramdeo Rai’s son and contested the seat in 2020 as an Independent, getting 39,878 votes and finishing third.
This is believed to have stunned the CPI, which wants the seat for its leader Awadhesh Kumar Rai, who lost from Bachhwara by a mere 484 votes in 2020. Sources said the seat may end up seeing a “friendly fight” between the allies.
The last date of filing nominations for the first phase of polls, on November 6, is October 17. The second phase polls are due on November 11, with nominations for them ending on October 20.