Congress names candidates for 5 Bihar council seats but denies 'rift with RJD'

The Congress on Friday dismissed speculation of a rift within the INDIA bloc in Bihar after its decision to field five candidates for the October 23 Legislative Council elections put it in direct competition with ally RJD in three constituencies. State Congress president Rajesh Kumar Ram said the party’s candidates would primarily fight the NDA and insisted that the decision did not signal a breakdown in Opposition unity.

The Congress announced candidates for two Teachers’ and three Graduates’ constituencies late Thursday. Former Bihar Congress president Madan Mohan Jha will seek re-election from Darbhanga Teachers, while Sanjay Yadav has been fielded from Patna Teachers. Manoj Kumar Jaiswal, Rajnikant Pathak and Asadullah Khan will contest Kosi Graduates, Darbhanga Graduates and Patna Graduates respectively. The RJD is also contesting all three Graduates’ seats, setting up direct contests between the two INDIA bloc partners.

‘No rift in alliance’

Ram sought to play down the significance of the overlapping candidatures, saying the Congress had acted in accordance with the sentiments of its workers and what he described as a growing public perception that the party was emerging as the principal challenger to the BJP.

“In all the seats that we are contesting, our fight will be with the NDA. In the remaining ones, we will work to ensure victory of our INDIA bloc partners,” Ram said, rejecting suggestions that the Council elections had exposed a widening Congress-RJD divide.

The positioning nevertheless marks a notable departure from a completely coordinated INDIA bloc strategy. While the two parties remain allies, Congress candidates will now have to compete for the same electorate as RJD nominees in three constituencies, even as both parties seek to defeat NDA candidates.

Three direct contests

The RJD had earlier announced candidates for six Council seats while saying a decision on the remaining constituencies was pending. Subsequent candidate lists mean the Congress and RJD are headed for direct contests in Kosi Graduates, Darbhanga Graduates and Patna Graduates.

The situation is different in the two Teachers’ constituencies being contested by the Congress. The RJD has not fielded candidates against Madan Mohan Jha in Darbhanga Teachers or Congress nominee Sanjay Yadav in Patna Teachers, according to the latest candidate position.

Sanjeev Kumar, who switched from the JD(U) to the RJD, has already filed his nomination papers for the Patna Teachers’ constituency. However, reports on Friday indicated that the RJD would not ultimately contest the Congress there, making the three Graduates’ constituencies the principal areas of INDIA-bloc overlap.

Congress plays down friction

Former Bihar Congress president and Rajya Sabha MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh also played down the development, arguing that alliance partners contesting against each other in Legislative Council elections was not unprecedented.

Singh said such contests had occurred in the past and pointed to the distinctive nature of elections from Teachers’ and Graduates’ constituencies, where the electorate is different from Assembly or Lok Sabha elections. He argued that the overlapping candidatures should therefore not automatically be interpreted as a rupture in the broader political alliance.

Behind the public show of unity, however, some Congress leaders have expressed dissatisfaction with the RJD’s approach to seat-sharing. Congress functionaries speaking anonymously have accused the larger Bihar ally of taking unilateral decisions in previous elections, including the 2025 Assembly polls. Such comments reflect internal frustration but do not establish a formal change in the relationship between the two parties.

Eight seats at stake

Polling will be held on October 23 for eight Bihar Legislative Council seats — four Graduates’ and four Teachers’ constituencies. The terms of the sitting members expire on November 16, while counting is scheduled for October 27. The last date for filing nominations is October 6, scrutiny will take place on October 7 and candidates can withdraw until October 9.

The four Graduates’ constituencies going to the polls are Patna, Darbhanga, Tirhut and Kosi, while the Teachers’ constituencies are Patna, Darbhanga, Tirhut and Saran.

The BJP has announced four candidates as part of the NDA’s preparations, including sitting MLC Nawal Kishore Yadav from Patna Teachers and N K Yadav from Kosi Graduates. Sarvesh Kumar will contest Darbhanga Graduates, while Narendra Prasad Singh has been fielded from Tirhut Teachers.

Different electorate

Unlike Assembly elections, the Council contests involve specially registered electorates. Voters in Graduates’ constituencies must have held a degree from a recognised Indian university for at least three years and reside in the constituency concerned. Teachers’ constituency voters must have at least three years of teaching experience in eligible secondary schools, colleges or universities.

For the Congress, the decision to field five candidates therefore serves two purposes — expanding its own organisational presence in Bihar while maintaining that the larger INDIA bloc remains intact. The October 23 contests will test whether the Congress and RJD can accommodate competition between themselves in selected seats without allowing it to spill over into their wider alliance.