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 announce a seat-sharing arrangement. Late Thursday night, the Congress went ahead and released a list of 48 names, with sources saying the tussle between it and the RJD was now over the “quality” of constituencies being given to the party rather than the number.
With rivals 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, before Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi called up RJD president Lalu Prasad to revive the talks Thursday.
Close to Thursday midnight, a Congress leader told The Indian Express: “We will be able to finalise seat-sharing in a few hours. We are bargaining for winnable seats.” 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.
With time running out, the allies may go ahead and file nominations and later withdraw candidates from constituencies as needed.
In the 48 names announced by the Congress, which it described as its “first list”, the most striking one was of Amit Giri from Nautan (West Champaran). Till recently, Giri was associated with the RSS and is said to be close to BJP West Champaran MP Sanjay Jaiswal.
The Congress, which won 19 seats last time and saw two MLAs defect, has fielded nine of its 17 sitting MLAs. That includes Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram from Kutumba and Congress Legislative Party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan (Kadwa in Katihar). Khan is one of three Muslims in the Congress list.
Sources said that the Congress leadership is aware that the low number of tickets may not go down well with the Muslim community, but is wary of giving any opening to the BJP for polarisation.
From Patna Sahib in Patna, the Congress has fielded Shashank Shekhar, a Yadav, who was a part of the party’s branding team till recently. Another Yadav candidate is Chandan Yadav (Khagaria), who is said to have played a crucial role in election management of Bhupesh Baghel, who went on to become Chhattisgarh CM.
The Congress has given the Bachhwara ticket to its Bihar Youth Congress president Prakash Garib Das. Former MLA Ramdeo Rai’s son, Das contested the seat in 2020 as an Independent, getting 39,878 votes and finishing third. Congress ally CPI had laid claim to the seat as its candidate in the last election, Awadhesh Kumar Rai, lost by a mere 484 votes. Rai has also filed his nomination from Bachhwara now, and there could be a “friendly fight” in the seat.
Despite phones being worked at multiple levels, as of Thursday night, a seat deal, however, evaded the Opposition alliance. Sources said that Lalu told the Congress high command that the need to accommodate smaller allies like the VIP and Left parties meant the Congress had to agree to a lower number. However, Gandhi and Kharge argued 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.
Two of the constituencies over which the Congress and RJD are at loggerheads are Kahalgaon and Jale. “Both parties are demanding that they should get the seats,” 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 started 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.
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.
Among other allies, Sahani is said to be upset over being allotted 20 seats, when he was asking for double that. But more seats to the VIP would leave the Left fuming. The CPI (M-L) L, which won 12 constituencies in 2020, 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.
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.
