Bihar Assembly polls: Filing of nomination papers over; INDIA bloc looks fractured

Filing of nomination papers for the second and final phase of Bihar Assembly elections closed on Monday, October 20, 2025; The opposition INDIA bloc appeared to have splintered as voters fought each other on several seats.

According to the Election Commission of India, a total of 1,314 candidates are left in the fray in the first phase, where 121 constituencies of the 243-member Assembly will go to polls on November 6, after more than 300 candidates were rejected during the scrutiny as well as 61 candidates withdrew.

The RJD, which leads the opposition coalition and boasts of emerging as the single largest party in the last few Assembly elections, has come out with a list of 143 candidates, long after most of them were allotted symbols and nomination papers were filed.

The party avoided a clash with the Congress by refraining from fielding a candidate against BPCC president Rajesh Kumar Ram in the reserved constituency of Kutumba, but its candidates would eventually fight against candidates of the grand old party in Lalganj, Vaishali and Kahalgaon.

Earlier, the RJD also looked set to pick a fight with former Chief Minister Mukesh Sahni’s Vikassheel Insaan Party in Tarapur, where the NDA had fielded BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and Gaura Boram.

However, in Tarapur, VIP announced that he would not support its candidate Sakaldeo Bind, who later angrily withdrew his nomination papers and joined the BJP in the presence of Mr. Choudhary.

In Gaura Boram, a letter from RJD chief Lalu Prasad to the Bihar Chief Electoral Officer, stating that his party supported Sahni’s younger brother Santosh and that “the person who comes with the lantern, the poll symbol, will not be nominated” did not help.

Afzal Ali, who filed his nomination papers on the RJD symbol, refused to back down and the party cadre now faces a confusing situation in the constituency in Darbhanga district.

RJD is also facing rebellion in Parihar, where the party’s women’s wing chief Ritu Jaiswal filed her Independent nomination papers; He was upset that the punishment went to the daughter-in-law of former State chief Ram Chandra Purve, whom he suspected of playing a role in his defeat when he lost by a narrow margin in the last Assembly elections.

Infighting in the INDIA bloc will also be witnessed in Bachhwara, Rajapakar and Rosera, fielding Congress and CPI candidates in all three seats. Rajapakar is currently fielded by the Congress, which has allowed MLA Pratima Kumari Das to defend the seat.

Congress is contesting on 61 seats in total; This is five fewer than the number he contested in 2020, when he won just 19 and the dismal strike rate was blamed for the Mahagathbandhan’s failure to win a majority.

Despite the momentum gained by Rahul Gandhi’s Voter Adhikar Yatra, the party has to battle intense opposition as state leaders question the criteria adopted for awarding tickets; While many candidates who lost by huge margins in five years are getting another chance, those who gave the NDA a tough fight are being ignored.

The fact that Independent MP Pappu Yadav from Purnea is married to Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ranjeet Ranjan from Chhattisgarh and his loyalists are given tickets instead of sitting as MLAs or fielded from seats where the party does not have a strong chance of winning has also been a sticking point.

The Vikassheel Insaan Party, which had no MLA in the outgoing Assembly, had aggressively demanded ’40-50 seats’ along with assurances that Mukesh Sahni would be the ‘Deputy Chief Minister’ if Tejashwi Yadav heads the next government, but they made a big escalation and settled for 16 constituencies.

CPI(ML) Liberation, which had the best strike rate in the Mahagathbandhan in 2020, decided not to be too assertive when it contested against 19 and won 12 and is contesting on only 20 seats.

CPI, which has two MLAs, is contesting on nine seats, said Indu Bhushan Verma, office secretary of the party.

CPI(M) Bihar state secretariat member Manoj Chandravanshi said his party, which also has two MLAs, will contest on four seats.

The deadline for filing nomination papers had its share of drama.

RJD candidate from Sasaram, Satyendra Sah, was arrested by the Jharkhand Police team in connection with an ongoing case against him in the adjoining state, soon after the nomination papers were filed.

This was the third case of its kind involving INDIA bloc candidates.

Early last week, CPI(ML) Independence candidates Jitendra Paswan and Satyadeo Ram were arrested soon after filing their nomination papers from Bhore and Darauli respectively.

The Left Party had alleged that these arrests were “politically motivated” and a sign of “fear and panic” in the NDA camp, which has ruled Bihar for 20 years and is currently facing anti-incumbency.

It was published – 20 October 2025 22:21 IST