Bihar polls: Left parties smoothen seat-sharing deal with RJD, Congress

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (CPI) has been offered six seats as part of the seat-sharing arrangement within the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections though the party had demanded 10 seats. With disagreement over seat allocation continuing among alliance partners, CPI General Secretary D Raja departed for Patna on Thursday to hold final negotiations regarding the deal. An official announcement is expected to be made on Friday, said the Left party sources. The CPI leaders said that they were expecting at least 10 seats while it wanted to contest 24 assembly constituencies. In the previous elections, it fielded candidates on six seats and could win two. Its vote share was 0.83 percent vote share. We have conveyed our demand. Raja is reaching Patna tonight. We are hopeful. Final decision will be announced on Friday, said sources. Another member of the Left combine, the CPI-Marxist (CPM) has also not reached a consensus on seat-sharing with its alliance partners yet. Its general secretary MA Baby is already in Patna. He met the alliance coordinator and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Thursday to discuss seat allocation. Though nothing has been finalised, we have a feeling that the number of seats to be contested by the CPM will be amicably settled. The Left parties will get as much as seats they contested in 2020. However, we are expecting more seats in this election, said CPM leaders. Top Congress leaders in Patna to hold direct talks with RJD supremo Lalu Yadav on seat sharing The CPM had demanded 11 seats. It had fought on four seats in the previous elections and managed to bag two with a vote share of 0.65 percent. This time, the Left parties are posing a challenge before the RJD, the largest constituent of the coalition, as they are eying a significantly larger share. The CPI, CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, and CPI-Marxist collectively sought at least 75 assembly seats. The CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, the most electorally successful Left party, submitted its claims for 40 seats. It was offered 19 seats; the same number it contested in the 2020 Assembly elections, while it won 12 as part of the alliance. However, the CPI-ML (Liberation) rejected the offer on Tuesday; lodged its protest to both; the number of seats and the proposed swapping of several constituencies it had contested last time. The party submitted a revised list of 30 preferred constituencies and was awaiting a formal response. A CPI-ML (Liberation) leader said that deadlock is still continuing and there has been no development since the 19-seat offer made by the RJD. The party secured 3.16 percent of vote share. The Mahagathbandhan, which includes the RJD, Congress, and other Left parties, fell just short of a majority in the last election with 110 out of 243 seats.