RJD, Congress at odds over upcoming Bihar legislative council elections

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

The RJD had earlier announced candidates for six seats, while the Congress is set to contest four seats. Leaders of the RJD and Congress said they would have a “friendly fight” in the four seats. The ruling BJP and JD(U) took a swipe at the Opposition, saying there is no such thing as a friendly fight between political parties as they essentially field contestants 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”. Congress spokesperson Asit Nath Tiwari, though, criticised the RJD for having “ignored alliance coordination” and asserted that the “Congress party candidates are in the fray to win the polls”.

Congress miffed

Earlier, Bihar Congress unit leaders had expressed annoyance over the RJD naming six candidates unilaterally, without taking alliance partners into confidence for the council elections and were said to have written to the party top brass to go it “solo for the polls”.

Meanwhile, Janata Dal (United) State president Umesh Kushwaha asked: “Where is the Mahagathbandhan now?… I’ve already said that the Mahagathbandhan has fallen apart.” 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 that friendly fights do not exist in politics as parties field candidates to win the election.

Late on October 1, the Congress had announced the names of five candidates for the eight seats — four each of the Teachers and Graduates constituencies — of the legislative council seats falling vacant on November 16. The polls are scheduled to be held on October 23, and the results will be announced on October 27. Out of five Congress candidates, the alliance partner RJD had earlier announced candidates for four seats: Patna Teachers and Graduates, Darbhanga Graduates and Kosi Graduates. In these four seats, both the RJD and Congress candidates would be contesting against each other.

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

The RJD had named Sanjiv Kumar Singh from Patna Teachers seat, Dilip Kumar from Patna Graduates, Nitesh Kumar from Kosi Graduates, Anil Kumar Jha from Darbhanga Graduates, Prof. Jairam Yadav from Saran Teachers and Rashmi Vinayak Gautam from Tirhut Graduates. The RJD is yet to announce names for Darbhanga Teachers and Tirhut Teachers seats.