Tejashwi Yadav meets Congress leaders to finalise seat-sharing for Bihar polls

RJD leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav met senior Congress leaders on Monday evening to finalise the seat-sharing arrangement ahead of the Bihar assembly polls.

Sources said Yadav met Congress general secretary, Organisation, K C Venugopal and the party’s in-charge for Bihar, Krishna Allavaru, here. He was expected to meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, but it did not materialise.

The two main parties are engaged in consultations over seat-sharing among the Mahagathbandhan partners ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls, amid claims and counter-claims made by both sides on each one’s stronghold constituencies.

Sources said Tejashwi Yadav earlier held discussions with Allavaru and Venugopal, where Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram, CLP leader in Bihar Vidhan Sabha Shakeel Ahmad Khan were also present.

The ‘Mahagathbandhan’ alliance in Bihar is likely to finalise seat-sharing in the next few days and may announce its candidates along with a joint manifesto this week.

The Congress is likely to get fewer seats than last time due to its dismal performance in the 2020 Assembly polls, when it won 19 out of 70 seats it contested. The RJD contested on 144 seats and bagged 75 in the 243-member Assembly.

None of the opposition Mahagathbandhan partners have announced the seat-sharing formula even though the ruling NDA announced its seat-sharing on Sunday.

After days of brainstorming, away from the heat and dust of poll-bound Bihar, the ruling NDA on Sunday came out with its seat-sharing formula for the elections to the 243-member assembly, with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and the BJP deciding to contest 101 constituencies each, and leaving the rest for smaller allies.

This is the first time that the two top constituents of the NDA in the state are contesting an equal number of seats. The announcement came less than a week left for the filing of nominations for the first phase of the elections.

The JD(U), headed by Kumar, who is seeking a record fifth consecutive term in office, agreed to contest 101 seats, as many as the BJP, a former junior ally which has, over the years, especially since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rise to national prominence, expanded its footprints in the state.

Bihar Assembly polls are slated in two phases on November 6 and 11, and the counting of votes would be conducted on November 14. The filing of nominations began on October 10 for the first phase, in which 121 seats will go to the polls.