Bihar Election 2025: The tussle over seat sharing has intensified in the INDIA alliance preparing for the Bihar Assembly elections 2025. All the constituent parties have started staking claims on their respective seats, making it challenging to build a consensus. At the same time, VIP chief Mukesh Sahni has further increased the political heat by demanding to contest on 60 seats and the post of Deputy CM.

Bihar Election 2025: Preparations for the 2025 assembly elections in Bihar have started gaining momentum and the seat sharing within the opposition INDIA alliance (mahagathbandhan) has intensified. However, the growing political ambitions of the allies and coordination between limited resources is becoming a big challenge for the alliance

All parties have shared the list

So far, five important meetings of the Mahagathbandhan led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have been held in which primary discussions were held on seat sharing. After the recent meeting, Tejashwi Yadav, chairman of the coalition coordination committee and former deputy chief minister of Bihar, said that all the parties have shared the list of seats on which they want to contest the elections. He expressed confidence that this issue will be resolved soon by mutual consent. However, the reports coming from inside are not pointing towards any easy solution.

Mukesh Sahni announced to contest elections on 60 seats

Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief and former minister Mukesh Sahni made a big announcement on social media on Tuesday, saying that his party will contest 60 seats in the upcoming elections. He wrote, "Vikasheel Insaan Party will contest 60 seats in 2025. Our alliance partners will contest the remaining seats."

Sahni also demanded the post of Deputy Chief Minister

Sahni has also demanded the post of Deputy Chief Minister. He said that it would be a matter of pride for the entire society if a son of a boatman becomes the Deputy CM. However, VIP does not have a single MLA in the Bihar Assembly at present, because all its four MLAs have already joined the BJP.

Political analysts believe that this demand of Sahni can not only create imbalance within the grand alliance, but can also encourage other smaller parties to demand additional seats.

RJD is in the strongest position, old figures will create pressure

RJD, the biggest partner in the Mahagathbandhan, is in the strongest position compared to other parties. In the 2020 assembly elections, the party had fielded candidates on 144 seats and won 75 seats. This time too, RJD is preparing to retain this number or stake claim on more seats.

Congress and Left parties also have different demands

In the last election, Congress fought on 70 seats and won 19. According to sources, this time the party is claiming about 50 seats. At the same time, CPI has handed over a list of 24 seats to Tejashwi Yadav, while CPI (ML) is preparing to contest on 40–45 seats this time. In 2020, CPI (ML) got 19 seats, out of which it won 12.

Threat of internal sabotage and local discontent

Political observers believe that if the seat sharing is not agreed upon in time, it can lead to conflict within the alliance and infighting at the local level. Many small parties are demanding such seats where their support base is negligible just to maintain their political relevance.

Seat sharing is Tejashwi's litmus test

In such a situation, deciding the seat sharing formula will be no less than a litmus test for Tejashwi Yadav. On one hand, he has to maintain the big role of RJD, and on the other hand, he has to balance the allies so that both the unity of the alliance and the election strategy remain strong.