RJD gets 26, Congress 9 as Bihar Mahagathbandhan finalises seat sharing — with some hiccups

Congress sources said Pappu Yadav could still contest from Purnea under the party’s symbol against the RJD candidate in a “friendly fight”.

In a post on X, Pappu Yadav said on Friday, “We will form a Congress government by winning Seemanchal-Kosi. The flag of Congress will fly in Purnea and we will make Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister.”

An RJD leader said the party’s top leadership was in no mood to concede the seat to the Congress as they did not want the seat to go to Pappu Yadav. “We cannot afford the rise of a Yadav leader in the Congress ranks. Tejashwi Prasad Yadav alone is Bihar’s Yadav leader. The Congress had no option but to accept what we offered them,” the RJD leader said. The RJD has also kept the Supaul seat, which Pappu Yadav’s wife, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ranjeet Ranjan, has represented in the past. Madhepura, which was also seen as an option for Pappu Yadav, was also kept by the RJD.

The nine seats allotted to the Congress are Kishanganj, Katihar, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, West Champaran, Patna Saheb, Sasaram, and Maharajganj. The Congress was reportedly upset at not getting Aurangabad, which it had wanted for former MP Nikhil Kumar. Moreover, Maharajganj, which the Congress has got, is a constituency from where it has not contested in the last three decades.

Five seats have gone to Left parties, with the CPI(M-L) getting three, and the CPI(M) and the CPI getting one each. The CPI(M-L), which had put up an impressive showing in the 2020 Assembly elections by winning 12 seats, will contest Ara, Karakat and Nalanda seats. The CPI will contest Begusarai and the CPI(M) Khagaria.

The 26 seats allotted to the RJD are Gaya, Nawada, Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Buxar, Pataliputra, Munger, Jamui, Banka, Valmiki Nagar, East Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Vaishali, Saran, Siwan, Gopalganj, Ujiyarpur, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Madhepura, Purnea, Araria and Hajipur.