A day after last date of filing nomination papers for the first phase poll on April 19, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress-led mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in Bihar announced seat sharing in coalition on March 29.
The announcement was made at State RJD headquarters jointly by RJD, Congress and three Left parties which form mahagathbandhan in the State.
As per the announcement made by senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui, RJD will contest on 26 seats, Congress on nine and the Left parties on remaining five seats. Bihar has a total of 40 Lok Sabha constituencies.
Also read | Lok Sabha elections LIVE updates- March 29
RJD leader, who is also the Leader of Opposition in State Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav was conspicuous by his absence on the occasion. State Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh, though, was present.
In last 2019 Lok Sabha elections too, Congress had contested on nine seats winning the lone Kishanganj seat. The NDA had won remaining 39 seats.
Among the Left parties, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) to contest on three seats of Bhojpur (Ara), Nalanda and Karakat, while Communist of Party of India (CPI) to contest Begusarai seat, for which it already has announced name of the candidate as Awadhesh Rai and Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) would contest the Khagaria seat.
Also read | Pappu Yadav hints at rebellion; Congress deeply unhappy with seat sharing in Bihar
The RJD will contest 26 seats: Purnia, Aurangabad, Gaya, Jamui, Nawada, Saran, Patliputra, Buxar, Ujjiyarpur, Jehanabad, Darbhanga, Banka, Araria, Munger, Sitamarhi, Jhanjharpur, Madhubani, Siwan, Seohar, Vaishali, Hajipur, Supaul, Valmikinagar, East Champaran, Madhepura, Gopalganj.
The Congress will contest the remaining nine seats of: Kishanganj, Katihar, Samastipur, Patna Sahib, Sasaram, West Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Maharajganj.
Meanwhile, heavyweight Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav who wants to contest the Purnia seat “at any cost” and had recently merged his party Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) into Congress party, appears sulking. Under grand alliance the Congress party has been denied the Purnia seat with RJD already announcing name of Bima Bharti as party candidate from Purnia. However, Pappu Yadav whose wife Ranjit Ranjan is Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Chhattisgarh, is likely to be fielded from Supaul seat which she had represented in Lok Sabha once.
“I’m son of Purnia and will contest from Purnia seat. Will prefer to leave the world but not the Purnia seat”, Mr Yadav said on March 28 while campaigning on bike in Purnia.
The Begusarai seat too has gone to the CPI quota from where it was speculated that Congress leader and former Jawaharlal Nehru University Student’s Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar would be the likely candidate. In the last 2019 Lok Sabha poll, Mr Kumar as CPI candidate was defeated from Begusarai seat by BJP candidate Giriraj Singh by over two lakh votes. He, later, had joined Congress Party.
Meanwhile, All India Majlis-E-Ettehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has announced to contest on 16 seats in Bihar while giving support to Hina Sahab from Siwan. Ms Sahab is wife of late strongman of Siwan Mohd Shahabuddin who had been MP from Siwan four times.
RJD sources told The Hindu that under mahagathbandhan alliance RJD would also get one more seat in neighboring State of Jharkhand. RJD had already Chatra Lok Sabha seat in its kitty but now it is likely to get Palamu seat as well, he added.
