Amid ongoing uncertainty over the Mahagathbandhan’s seat-sharing deal, the Congress party on Wednesday night surprised political circles by releasing the names of its first 16 candidates for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. The announcement came from the party’s Bihar unit through social media posts that featured pictures of candidates receiving their nomination certificates.
The move, which comes just days before the nomination deadline for the first phase of polling, indicates the party’s determination to assert itself within the Grand Alliance (Mahagathbandhan), even as talks with its key ally, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), remain unresolved.
According to the list, Anand Shankar Singh will contest from Aurangabad, Pratima Das from Rajapakad, Shiv Prakash Garib Das from Bachhwar, Trishuldhari Singh from Barbigha, Kaushalendra Kumar from Nalanda, Shashi Shekhar Singh from Wazirganj, Rajesh Ram from Kutumba, and Amita Bhushan from Begusarai.
Other nominees include Jitendra Singh (Amarpur), Om Prakash Garg (Gopalganj), Vijendra Chaudhary (Muzaffarpur), Shashi Bhushan Rai (Govindganj), B.K. Ravi (Rosda), Amaresh Kumar (Lakhisarai), Lalan Kumar (Sultanganj), and Anil Kumar (Bikram).
Congress’ state president Rajesh Ram, who himself has been fielded from Kutumba, took to X to express gratitude to the leadership and optimism about the alliance’s prospects. “Kutumba is not just a region for me; it is my family. In every moment of joy and sorrow, I have always found my Kutumba family standing by my side,” he wrote in Hindi. “This election will not be fought by me alone but by our entire Kutumba, united as one.”
While the Congress has made its first move by announcing 16 candidates, the Mahagathbandhan is still struggling to finalise a seat-sharing formula. Sources suggest that Congress has demanded around 70 seats, while the RJD is willing to concede only 52 to 55, citing Congress’s poor strike rate in the 2020 assembly polls, when it contested 70 seats but won just 19.
The early declaration is being viewed as a tactical message to its allies that Congress intends to play a more assertive role in the 2025 elections, rather than remain a junior partner.
Meanwhile, the Bihar Assembly elections, comprising 243 seats, will take place in two phases — November 6 and November 11, with vote counting scheduled for November 14.
