Congress Looking At ‘Friendly Fight’ On Several Seats With RJD In Bihar As Seat-Sharing Glitches Remain
The Congress Central Election Committee met on October 14 and cleared 26 more seats.
Published : October 15, 2025 at 7:33 PM IST
New Delhi: The Congress is looking at a ‘friendly fight’ on several seats with the RJD, as seat-sharing glitches remain in the INDIA bloc. Elections for 243 assembly seats of Bihar will take place on November 6 and 11. The result will be out on November 14.
Both the ruling NDA as well as the opposition INDIA bloc are struggling with seat-sharing issues, even as the last date for nomination for the phase 1 election on November 6 is October 17.
The INDIA bloc has been trying to conclude the seat-sharing deal over the past weeks, but as the discussions at the state level could not close the matter, the issue reached Delhi on October 13 when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was to meet RJD’s Tejaswi Yadav.
However, they could not meet as no final agreement between the senior leaders of the two parties could be reached over the seats that each ally wanted to contest.
The Congress central election committee, which had earlier finalised 25 seats on October 8, met again on October 14 and cleared 26 more seats, taking the total to 51 of the 61 seats the grand old party plans to contest against 135 of the RJD.
On the instructions of Congress chief Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, who had joined the CEC meeting online from Shimla, a sub-committee of the CEC discussed the remaining 10 seats on Wednesday, but the consultations remained inconclusive as both the allies are adamant on their stand, the party insiders said.
Based on the discussions within the sub-committee, the senior Bihar Congress leaders will again have a few rounds of consultations with their RJD counterparts on the night of October 15 in Patna to reduce the number of friendly fights and announce the final seat-sharing deal on October 16.
“We are trying to minimise friction within the alliance while focusing on the quality seats for us,” AICC secretary in charge of Bihar, Sushil Pasi, told ETV Bharat. Congress insiders said, unlike in the previous 2020 elections, when the grand old party managers agreed to RJD’s offer of 70 seats that included over 40 difficult seats, they were sticking to their demand for winnable seats this time.
The delay in seat-sharing negotiations, given the last date of nomination was just two days away, caused concern within the Bihar Congress, but party strategists said the potential candidates had been alerted to keep their documents ready so the nominations may be filed on October 17.
According to party insiders, a friendly fight may be unavoidable on at least three seats, namely Bachhwara, Kahalgaon and Matihani, where the Congress nominees will submit their nominations on October 16 as the RJD was not prepared to give up its claim.
“The RJD is acting rough this time. They want to keep us below 60, but we want more seats. If things don’t work out, both may end up putting up candidates in several seats,” a CEC member said on condition of anonymity.
“Yes, friendly fights on some seats may take place,” former union minister Shakeel Ahmed said. As Tejaswi Yadav filed his nomination from Raghopur before the alliance was finalised, Ahmed said it was okay as the RJD leader would face the election on November 6 and would get busy with the alliance formalities and other issues over the next few days.
“It is better that he filed his papers today,” said Ahmed. Congress insiders said, given the hectic consultations going on within the INDIA bloc, the alliance announcement and list of candidates were likely to take place on October 16. “Yes, both the events will take place on Thursday,” said the CEC member.
“I have been told that the astrologers of many candidates have suggested they file nomination on October 17, considering it an auspicious day,” quipped Ahmed.
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