Bihar – The upcoming Bihar assembly elections have exposed deep fissures within the opposition as the Bihar election friendly fight phenomenon threatens to undermine the INDIA bloc’s electoral prospects. Despite the nomination deadline passing for the second phase of polling, the opposition Mahagathbandhan has failed to finalize a seat-sharing formula, resulting in internal competition across multiple constituencies. At least 11 assembly seats are now set to witness this Bihar election friendly fight, where alliance partners will compete against each other instead of presenting a united front against the ruling NDA.
Complete List of Contested Seats
The Bihar election friendly fight will unfold across 11 critical constituencies where Congress, RJD, and Left party candidates face off against their own alliance partners. In Narkatiaganj, Congress’s Shashwat Kedar Pandey will contest against RJD’s Deepak Yadav. Vaishali sees Congress’s Sanjeev Singh challenging RJD’s Ajay Kushwaha, while Raja Pakar witnesses Congress’s Pratima Kumari competing with CPI’s Mohit Paswan.
The Bihar election friendly fight extends to Bachhwara, where Congress nominee Prakash Das faces CPI’s Awadhesh Kumar Rai. In Biharsharif, Congress’s Umer Khan contests against CPI’s Shiv Prasad Yadav, and Rosera features Congress’s BK Ravi versus CPI’s Lakshman Paswan. Lalganj presents an RJD-Congress clash with Shivani Shukla taking on Aditya Kumar Raja.
Additional Bihar election friendly fight scenarios include Tarapur, where RJD’s Arun Sah contests VIP candidate Sakaldeo Bind, and Kahalgaon, featuring Congress’s Praveen Singh Kushwaha against RJD’s Rajnish Bharti. Chainpur witnesses RJD’s Brij Kishore Bind competing with VIP’s Balgovind Bind, while Pipra sees an internal Left conflict between CPI(ML)L’s Anil Kumar and CPI(M)’s Rajmangal Prasad.
Candidate Distribution Reveals Alliance Discord
The Bihar election friendly fight situation stems from uncoordinated candidate announcements across alliance partners. For the 243 assembly seats, the Rashtriya Janata Dal announced 143 candidates, Congress named 60 candidates, CPI announced nine names, CPI(M) four, CPI(ML) Liberation named 20, and VIP announced 15 nominees. This distribution highlights the lack of cohesive planning within the opposition bloc.
RJD Defends Maximum Seat Claim
RJD’s Bihar unit spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwary justified the party’s aggressive candidate list, arguing that alliance partners must understand RJD’s unique position. “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,” Tiwary stated.
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He appealed to other INDIA bloc allies to withdraw their candidates from seats where RJD has fielded nominees, attempting to resolve the Bihar election friendly fight through unilateral withdrawals rather than negotiated settlements.
Congress Maintains Coalition Dharma Stance
Bihar Congress spokesperson Asit Tiwary adopted a more conciliatory tone regarding the Bihar election friendly fight, emphasizing the party’s commitment to alliance principles. “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,” he explained.
The Congress position suggests that coordination failures occurred after their initial candidate announcements, with subsequent declarations by alliance partners creating the Bihar election friendly fight situation.
Election Timeline and Critical Deadlines
Bihar will vote in two phases for the upcoming elections, scheduled for November 6 and 11, with results announced by the Election Commission on November 14. The final date to file nominations for the first phase was October 17, and the second phase deadline was October 20. Despite these deadlines passing, the INDIA bloc’s seat-sharing formula remains unfinalized.
Opposition Ridicules Alliance Disarray
Union Minister Chirag Paswan, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief and NDA member, seized upon the Bihar election friendly fight to mock opposition unity. “I have never seen such a thing in my life that such a big alliance is on the verge of ruins… If the people of mahagathbandhan are in this delusion that they can field multiple candidates from the same seat, then they should know that there’s no such thing as a ‘friendly fight’,” Paswan declared.
He suggested the Mahagathbandhan had essentially conceded victory on many challenging seats through internal competition, stating the opposition had given the NDA “a walkover even on many seats which seemed challenging to us.”
Electoral Implications
The Bihar election friendly fight represents more than symbolic discord—it threatens to divide opposition votes and hand victories to NDA candidates in closely contested constituencies. With alliance partners competing against each other, voter confusion and vote splitting become inevitable, potentially transforming competitive seats into comfortable NDA victories and undermining the opposition’s electoral strategy across Bihar.
