Bihar Assembly Election 2025: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Mahagathbandhan has almost finalized its seat-sharing deal with ally parties and an official announcement is likely today. Tejashwi Yadav-led RJD has taken a hit compared to the 2020 state assembly polls and is likely to boost the role of smaller allies like the VIP and the Left parties.
If reports are to be believed, the RJD may contest on 135 seats, down from 144 and Congress may get 60 seats, down from 70. Notably, the Congress could win only 19 seats out of the 70 it contested in the 2020 Bihar assembly polls. Given the party’s poor performance, its seats are likely to be reduced. Experts believe that a larger seat-share for Congress may hurt the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar.
Mukesh Sahani’s VIP is likely to get 16 seats. Sahani, who openly claims to become the Deputy CM in the regime of Tejashwi Yadav, has been asking for 30 to 40 seats.
Left parties like the CPI, CPIM and the CPIML may get around 30 seats this time and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha may get just two seats. Notably, the JMM has been putting pressure on the RJD to get at least 10-12 seats to compensate for the alliance strategy in Jharkhand.
The nominations for the phase one and phase two for the Bihar assembly elections is underway. The 243-seats assembly will go to the polls on November 6 and November 11 while the counting of votes will take place on November 14.
While the Mahagathbandhan parties are yet to declare their candidate list, the rival NDA has announced their candidate list, getting the initial edge in the campaigning. This time, entry of Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj and Asaduddin Owaisi’s decision to make the AIMIM contest over two dozen seats have made the poll battle interesting.
