Filing of nomination papers ended on Monday (October 20, 2025) for the second and final phase of the Bihar Assembly polls, with INDIA’s opposition bloc appearing fragmented as voters ended up fighting among themselves for several seats.
According to the Election Commission of India, a total of 1,314 candidates remained in the fray for the first phase in which 121 constituencies of the 243-member assembly would go to the polls on November 6 after the withdrawal of 61 candidates, besides rejecting more than 300 during scrutiny.
The RJD, which heads the opposition coalition and prides itself on emerging as the single largest party in the last few parliamentary elections, came up with its list of 143 candidates, long after most of them had already been allotted symbols and filed nomination papers.
Avoiding a confrontation with the Congress, the party refrained from fielding a candidate in the reserved Kutumba constituency against BPCC president Rajesh Kumar Ram, though its candidates would eventually fight against the grand old party’s candidates in Lalganj, Vaishali and Kahalgaon.
Earlier, the RJD also seemed set to take on former state minister Mukesh Sahni’s Vikassheel Insaan Party in Tarapur, where the NDA has fielded BJP leaders and deputy chief ministers Samrat Choudhary and Gaur Boram.
In Tarapur, however, the VIP announced that it would not support its candidate Sakalde Bind, who then withdrew his nomination papers in exasperation and joined the BJP in the presence of Mr. Choudhary.
In Gaura Boram, RJD president Lalu Prasad’s letter to the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar informing him that his party was supporting Sahnia’s younger brother Santosh and that the person who “came with our vote symbol, the lantern, is not considered for nomination” proved futile.
Afzal Ali, who had filed nomination papers on the RJD symbol, refused to budge and the party cadre was now confronted with a confusing situation in the constituency falling in Darbhanga district.
The RJD is also facing an insurgency in Parihar, where Ritu Jaiswal, the party’s women’s wing chief filed her nomination papers as an independent, upset over the ticket given to former state president Ram Chandra Purve’s daughter-in-law, whom she suspected played a role in her defeat in the last assembly elections, when she lost by a narrow margin.
INDIA bloc fights were also witnessed in Bachhwara, Rajapakar and Rosera with Congress and CPI fielding their candidates in all the three seats. Rajapakar is currently held by the Congress, which has let sitting MLA Pratima Kumari Das defend his seat.
The Congress is contesting a total of 61 seats, five fewer than in 2020 when it won only 19 and a dismal strike rate was blamed for the Mahagathbandhan’s failure to win a majority.
Regardless of the momentum gained by Rahul Gandhi’s Adhikar Yatra voter, the party has to contend with intense opposition as state leaders question the criteria adopted for ticket issuance, with many candidates who lost by a huge margin five years getting another chance, but those who fought hard against the NDA being overlooked.
Also at issue was the influence of Pappu Yadav, an independent MP from Purnea, married to Ranjeet Ranjan, a Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Chhattisgarh, whose loyalists were given tickets instead of sitting MLAs or were fielded from seats where the party had little chance of winning.
The Vikassheel Insaan Party, which has no MLA in the outgoing assembly, aggressively demanded “40-50 seats” besides an assurance that Mukesh Sahni would be the “Deputy Chief Minister” if Tejashwi Yadav leads the next government, but they made a big concession and settled for 16 constituencies.
CPI(ML) Liberation, which had the best number of strikes in the 2020 Mahagathbandhan, contesting 19 and winning 12, has decided not to be too ambitious and is contesting only 20 seats.
The CPI, which has two MLAs, is contesting nine seats, party secretary Indu Bhushan Verma said.
CPI(M) Bihar state secretariat member Manoj Chandravanshi said his party, which also has two MLAs, will contest on four seats.
The last date for submission of nomination papers was dramatic.
RJD candidate from Sasaram, Satyendra Sah, was arrested shortly after filing nomination papers by a Jharkhand police team in connection with a case pending against him in the adjoining state.
This was the third case of its kind involving candidates from the INDIA block.
Earlier, last week, CPI(ML) liberation candidates Jitendra Paswan and Satyadeo Ram were arrested shortly after filing their nomination papers from Bhore and Darauli.
The Left party claimed that the arrests were “politically motivated” and a sign of “fear and panic” in the NDA camp, which has ruled Bihar for 20 years and is now facing anti-establishment.
Published – 20 October 2025 22:21 IST
