Bihar polls: INDIA bloc constituents to fight against each other on 8 seats 

There are at least eight Assembly seats in Bihar, where constituents of the INDIA bloc will fight against each other due to internal discord among the Congress, the RJD and the Left parties over seat-sharing arrangements.

The Assembly segments, where the opposition alliance partners will contest together, are Narkatiaganj, Vaishali, Rajapakar, Rosera, Bachhwara, Kahalgaon, Biharsharif and Sikandara, RJD and Congress leaders said.

The Congress is contesting 61 seats, nine less than the number of constituencies in which the party had fought five years ago, while the RJD has nominated 143 candidates.

The CPI is contesting nine constituencies, while the CPI(M) is in the fray in four seats.

The CPI(ML) Liberation, which had the best strike rate in the 'Mahagathbandhan' in 2020, when it contested 19 seats and won 12, has fielded candidates in 20 assembly segments this time.

Congress' Shaswat Kedar Pandey is contesting against RJD's Deepak Yadav in Narkatiaganj seat, while the fight is between Sanjeev Singh of the Congress and Ajay Kumar Kushwaha of RJD in Vaishali.

Congress nominee Pratima Kumri is pitted against Mohit Paswan of CPI in Rajapakar, while Congress candidate Shiv Prakash Garib Das is contesting against Abdesh Kumar Rai of CPI in Bachhwara seat.

The fight is between Omair Khan of Congress and Shiv Kumar Yadav of CPI in Biharsharif seat.

The 243-member Bihar assembly will go to polls in two phases on November 6 and 11, with results set to be announced on November 14.

Commenting on the situation, RJD state unit spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwary told PTI, “I am again saying that alliance partners of the INDIA bloc must understand our compulsions. The RJD is the party which contests only in Bihar and neighbouring states...we don't demand seats in southern or other states from our partners. As we are the biggest party, we deserve to contest the maximum number of seats in Bihar." He appealed to other constituents of the INDIA bloc to withdraw their candidates from the seats where the RJD has already fielded its nominees.

Reacting to it, Bihar Congress spokesperson Asit Tiwary told PTI, “We have always followed coalition 'dharma'...I must say that the RJD and the Left party fielded their candidates after the Congress had already announced the list of its nominees. We are quite hopeful that things will be sorted out in a day or two”.