RJD, Congress at odds with upcoming Bihar Legislative Council elections

AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting at Indira Bhawan in New Delhi. File | Photo credit: ANI

A rift emerged between the party and its ally Mahagathbandhan Rashtriya Janata Dal on Friday (October 2, 2026), a day after the Congress announced the names of five candidates for the upcoming eight-seat Bihar Legislative Council elections.

RJD had earlier announced candidates for six seats while Congress is all set to contest for four seats. RJD and Congress leaders said they would have a “friendly fight” in four seats. The ruling BJP and JD(U) lashed out at the opposition, saying there is no such thing as a friendly fight between political parties as they are basically fielding candidates to win elections.

Also Read: BJP Names Four Candidates For Bihar MLC Elections

RJD spokesperson Ejaz Ahmed said his party has a “long-standing commitment” to the Mahagathbandhan and has “supported its allies in the past”. However, Congress spokesperson Asit Nath Tiwari criticized the RJD for “ignoring alliance coordination” and claimed that “Congress party candidates are fighting to win the polls”.

Congress got angry

Earlier, leaders of the Bihar Congress units had expressed outrage that the RJD had unilaterally named six candidates without taking alliance partners into confidence for the assembly elections and said they had written to the party’s top brass to go “solo to the polls”.

Meanwhile, Janata Dal (United States) president Umesh Kushwaha asked, “Where is the Mahagathbandhan now?… I have already said that the Mahagathbandhan has disintegrated.” His statement was also echoed by another ruling NDA ally, Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) president and Rajya Sabha member Upendra Kushwaha. BJP spokesperson Kuntal Krishna said friendly fights do not exist in politics as parties field candidates to win elections.

Late on October 1, the Congress announced the names of five candidates for the eight seats — four each from the faculty and graduate constituencies — seats in the Legislative Council that fall vacant on November 16. The polls are scheduled to be held on October 23 and the results will be announced on October 27. Of the five Congress candidates, candidates of alliance partner Grad RJD and teachers had earlier announced four seats of Patna Grad, Darbhang. Alumni and Alumni of Kosi. Both RJD and Congress candidates would compete against each other in these four seats.

Congress fielded Madan Mohan Jha for re-election from Darbhanga Teachers constituency, Rajnikant Pathak for Darbhanga Graduates, Sanjay Yadav for Patna Teachers seat and Asadullah Khan for Patna Graduates seat while Manoj Kumar Jaiswal was fielded from Kosi Graduates constituency. State party president Rajesh Ram circulated endorsement letters to the five candidates on Friday.

RJD nominated Sanjiv Kumar Singh from Patna Teachers, Dilip Kumar from Patna Graduates, Nitesh Kumar from Kosi Graduates, Anil Kumar Jha from Darbhanga Graduates, Prof. Jairam Yadava of Saran Teachers and Rashmi Vinayak Gautama of Tirhut Graduates. RJD is yet to announce the names for Darbhanga and Tirhut Teachers.

Published – 02 Oct 2026 09:47 IST