Bihar Elections 2025: Seat-Sharing Circus In Full Swing

It’s open season in Bihar’s political marketplace with polls set to be held on November 6 and 11, and the seat-sharing circus within both the Mahagathbandhan and the NDA doesn’t seem to be dying down. Every party fancies itself deserving of a larger slice, while the old guards do not want to give up their share.

Within the Mahagathbandhan, RJD, Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation, and assorted allies, are locked in endless haggling for the 243 seats. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), having fought 144 seats in 2020 and bagged 75, now insists on contesting at least 134 this time. The Congress, which fared modestly with 19 wins out of 70 last time, is eyeing 60–65 seats, are likely to make do with 55. As of now 40 seats have been agreed upon.
The Left parties, which includes CPI-ML, CPI and CPI(M) with their relatively better strike rate, want 35 seats instead of the 29 they had previously. They had won 16 of the 29 seats in the last election.

Mukesh Sahani’s Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), which has no MLAs as they all moved to BJP after the last elections, is reportedly demanding at least 30 seats from the Mahagathbandhan, and could get at most 10 to 15. The Left parties have responded by turning up their own demands. And as things stand, the word on the ground is that NDA is trying to lure Sahani over by offering seats which he has a better chance of winning.

The CPI-ML party was reportedly offered 19 seats; the same number it contested in the 2020 Assembly elections, when it won 12 as part of the alliance. However, the CPI-ML (Liberation) has rejected both the number of seats and the proposed swapping of several constituencies it had contested last time. They have given a revised list of around 30 seats and indicated that the final decision would depend on “mutual respect” among alliance partners and the “political significance” of constituencies under discussion.

Tug of war over numbers in NDA

The NDA — comprising the BJP, JD(U), LJP (RV), and smaller allies such as HAM(S) — continues to wrestle with its internal seat-sharing tensions. Discussions over seat-sharing with both the BJP and JD(U) continue and they are expected to contest around 100–103 seats each. The JD(U), however, is insisting on contesting one seat more than the BJP.

The JD(U) may contest 103 seats (down from 115 in 2020), while the BJP could field candidates in 102 constituencies (compared to 110 last time). The Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) is expected to contest in 20–25 seats, mainly in regions where it has five sitting MPs. Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAM(S)) may contest eight seats (it contested seven and won four previously), while Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) could be allotted five to six.

JD(U) appears to have left it to the BJP leadership to persuade allies such as the LJP, HAM, and Kushwaha’s faction to moderate their demands in order to finalise the seat-sharing arrangement without friction.

Meanwhile, the BJP’s state election committee is meeting on Thursday to review progress, followed by an NDA state-level discussion. The BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) is expected to convene later this week or early next week, after which the party is likely to release its first list of candidates.

Amid these ongoing talks, Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Wednesday asserted that his party, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), should be allotted at least 15 seats in the 243-member Bihar Assembly.

Manjhi, whose party is allied with the NDA both in Bihar and at the Centre, warned that he would not contest the election if his demand is not met. On Wednesday, he took to X (formerly Twitter), posting six poetic lines in Hindi inspired by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar’s Rashmirathi — in which Lord Krishna’s peace overture to Duryodhana is famously rejected.

“If there is justice, then give half;
If there is any obstacle, then give only 15 grams;
Keep your entire land — we (HAM) will gladly eat that
And not raise a sword against kin.”

The HAM chief has been adamant about contesting at least 15 seats, arguing that the party needs to win eight to secure official recognition from the Election Commission — a status that has eluded it for nearly a decade.

Just as Bihar’s political temperature couldn’t get any higher, rumours surfaced that LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan might join hands with strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj party if NDA talks collapse.

Chirag Paswan, Union Minister and heir to the late Ram Vilas Paswan, has reportedly demanded at least 40 “winnable” seats out of 243, citing his party’s perfect record in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where it won all five seats it contested.

The LJP (RV) has also insisted on “respectable” constituencies and is unwilling to settle for less. Party insiders suggest it aims to contest between 45 and 54 Assembly seats, while the BJP is prepared to offer only 20–25.

Paswan is said to have demanded at least two Assembly constituencies in each of the five Lok Sabha seats his party won earlier this year. BJP leaders have assured him that his proposals will be discussed and that a formal response will follow soon. It has been reported that Paswan was willing to align with Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj if his demands were not met by NDA.

Amidst the jostling, Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj party remains a wildcard. Analysts believe it could eat into the Mahagathbandhan’s vote share without necessarily winning seats. Kishor appears to have struck a chord with sections of the electorate by promising policy changes aligned with local demands.

Bihar Polls in Two Phases

The Bihar Assembly elections will be held in two phases, on 6 and 11 November, with results to be announced on November 14, according to the Election Commission.

The 2025 polls will be the first major election in the state following the “purification” of electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. The updated voters’ list includes 7.43 crore electors, of whom 14 lakh are first-time voters — a significant expansion of the electorate since the last election.