According to the Election Commission, a total of 1,314 candidates remained in the fray for the first phase in which 121 constituencies out of the 243-member assembly would go to polls on November 6, following the withdrawal of 61 candidates and the rejection of over 300 during scrutiny.
The misfortunes of Mahagathbandhan
The RJD, which leads the opposition coalition and boasts of becoming the largest party in the last two parliamentary elections, released a list of its 143 candidates, well after most of them had already received symbols and filed nomination papers.
The party avoided a showdown with the Congress, refraining from fielding a candidate in the Kutumba reserved constituency against BPCC president Rajesh Kumar Ram, even though its candidates would end up fighting against the grand old party’s candidates in Lalganj, Vaishali and Kahalgaon.
Earlier, the RJD also looked set to fight with former state minister Mukesh Sahni’s Vikassheel Insaan Party in Tarapur, where the NDA fielded BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and Gaura Boram.
However, in Tarapur, the VIP announced that it would not support its candidate Sakaldeo Bind, who later indignantly withdrew his candidature and joined the BJP in the presence of Choudhary.
In Gaura Boram, a letter from RJD president Lalu Prasad to the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar informing him that his party was supporting Sahni’s younger brother Santosh and that the person “contesting with our voting symbol, the lantern, would not be considered for nomination” proved unnecessary.
Rebel problem
Afzal Ali, who had filed his candidature under the symbol of the RJD, refused to back down and the party cadres found themselves facing a confusing situation in the Darbhanga district constituency.
The RJD is also facing a rebellion in Parihar, where Ritu Jaiswal, leader of the party’s women’s wing, has filed her nomination as an independent, upset over the ticket given to former state president’s daughter-in-law Ram Chandra Purve, whom she suspects of playing a role in her defeat in the last Assembly polls, when she lost narrowly.
Infighting within the INDIA bloc would also be seen in Bachhwara, Rajapakar and Rosera, with the Congress and CPI fielding their candidates in the three seats. Rajapakar is currently in the custody of the Congress which left sitting MP Pratima Kumari Das to defend his seat.
The congressional conundrum
The Congress is contesting a total of 61 seats, five fewer than in 2020, when it won only 19 and the dismal strike rate was blamed on Mahagathbandhan’s inability to win a majority.
Despite the momentum gained by Rahul Gandhi’s Voter Adhikar Yatra, the party faces intense dissent as state leaders question the criterion adopted for allotment of tickets, many candidates who lost five years by a huge margin are getting another chance, but those who put up a tough fight against the NDA have been overlooked.
A point of contention has also been the influence enjoyed by Pappu Yadav, the independent MP from Purnea, married to Ranjeet Ranjan, a Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Chhattisgarh, whose loyalists were given tickets in place of sitting MPs, or elected to seats where the party did not have a strong chance of winning.
Small allies and their demands
The Vikassheel Insaan Party, which has no MLA in the outgoing assembly but had aggressively demanded “40-50 seats” besides assurance that Mukesh Sahni would be the “deputy chief minister” if Tejashwi Yadav heads the next government, took a major step down and settled for 16 constituencies.
The CPI(ML) Liberation, which had the best strike rate in the Mahagathbandhan in 2020, when it fielded 19 and won 12, has decided not to be too ambitious and is contesting only 20 seats.
The CPI, which has two MLAs, is contesting nine seats, party office secretary Indu Bhushan Verma said.
CPI(M) Bihar state secretariat member Manoj Chandravanshi said his party, which also has two MLAs, would contest four seats.
Bihar Game
The last date for submitting applications had its share of drama.
RJD candidate from Sasaram, Satyendra Sah, was arrested soon after filing his nomination by a team of Jharkhand Police in connection with a case pending against him in the neighboring state.
This was the third such case involving candidates from the INDIA bloc.
Earlier last week, CPI(ML) freedom candidates Jitendra Paswan and Satyadeo Ram were arrested soon after filing their nomination papers in Bhore and Darauli respectively.
The Left party had claimed that these arrests were “politically motivated” and were a sign of “fear and panic” in the NDA camp which has ruled Bihar for 20 years and is now facing opponents of power.
