Bihar poll parley begins: What happened at Mahagathbandhan’s first meeting on seat-sharing

The RJD, which is the biggest party in the alliance, is said to have directed allies to focus on winnable seats and the strength of their candidates before making any demand.

The Congress is pitching for “quality seats” but has not yet come up with a fixed number, sources told The Indian Express. This could stem from cautiousness due to its declining footprint in Bihar. It won just 19 of the 70 seats it contested in the 2020 Assembly polls, and any demand of it could be met with pushback from other allies. But the party is reportedly looking to highlight its Lok Sabha performance in 2024, when it won three seats.

In conversation with The Indian Express earlier this month, Congress’s Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru said the party was prepared for the polls and had an organisation in place. He added that the seat-sharing talks would be completed well ahead of the poll schedule.

In April, Leader of Opposition and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav is said to have communicated to the Congress’s central leadership that seat-sharing talks must not be left till the last moment. While sources in the Congress at the time said both sides felt seat sharing should be based on ground realities, Yadav’s emphasis was interesting as the RJD is of the view that it was a mistake to have given the Congress 70 seats in 2020. Its poor strike rate is seen as one of the reasons why the Mahagathbandhan fell short in that election in which the RJD was the single-largest party.

The VIP, sources said, demanded over 40 seats at the meeting and is looking for an assurance that its chief, Mukesh Sahani, will be named the alliance’s Deputy CM candidate. The party contested 20 seats in 2020 as part of the NDA and won four of them.

The Left parties are said to have collectively asked for more than 50 seats, with a majority of the seats going to the CPI (ML) L as part of the arrangement. The CPI (ML) L is citing its 2020 performance, when it won 12 of the 19 seats it contested, and its two Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 polls, to bolster its claim.

Apart from the seats, the Opposition alliance discussed its core election agenda and campaign strategy at the meeting.

While the NDA seat-sharing talks have not started yet, top Janata Dal (United) leaders such as national working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, senior ministers Bijendra Yadav and Vijay Kumar Choudhary, and party MLC Lallan Sharraf also met on Thursday to prepare for the discussions. The ruling alliance is expected to meet in the coming days.

“We contested 115 seats last time. We have prepared a list of 122 seats, which include nine seats that the BJP currently holds,” a JD (U) leader said.

The JD(U) won 43 seats last time and was far outpaced by the BJP that won 74 seats. It later claimed that the Lok Janshakti Party had damaged its chances in several constituencies.