Bihar Assembly Election 2025: The ongoing dispute within the All India Alliance for the Bihar Assembly elections has now reached a breaking point. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the ruling party in Jharkhand, broke ties with the alliance on Saturday and announced it would contest six seats independently. Party General Secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya stated that they were not allocated seats.
Amidst the ongoing dispute within the opposition Grand Alliance, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has announced its decision to snap ties with the alliance. The JMM announced on Saturday that it will contest the Bihar Assembly elections independently and field its own candidates on six seats.
Ultimately we were deceived: JMM
Addressing media persons, JMM General Secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said that the party had demanded seats from the Grand Alliance, but was not allocated seats, which is why the party decided to contest the elections alone. JMM leader Manoj Pandey said, “…Talks were held, we were assured that we would be given seats according to our support base, but ultimately we were deceived.”
JMM will contest on these 6 seats
The six assembly seats for which the JMM has announced its candidates are: Chakai, Dhamdha, Katoria (ST), Manihari (ST), Jamui, and Pirpainti. Bhattacharya stated that voting for all these seats will take place in the second phase on November 11. Elections for the 243 seats in the Bihar Assembly will be held on November 6 and 11, and the counting of votes will take place on November 14.
RJD was given 7 seats in Bihar: JMM
The JMM recalled that it had given a "respectable share" to its alliance partners—Congress, RJD, and CPI(ML)L—in the Jharkhand elections. Bhattacharya said that it had expected a respectable share of seats for the JMM in the Bihar elections as well. He cited the 2019 Jharkhand Assembly elections, where the national party The RJD was given seven seats, despite the RJD winning only one, Chatra.
JMM appointed a RJD MLA in Jharkhand as a minister
He also said that the JMM, in keeping with its alliance dharma, appointed a RJD MLA in Jharkhand as a minister for five years. Even in the 2024 elections, the JMM gave the RJD five percent of Jharkhand's seats (i.e., six seats).
Hemant Soren to campaign
The JMM has also released its list of 20 star campaigners for the Bihar elections, led by Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren. Bhattacharya said that the JMM knows how to fight elections strongly, especially against the BJP.
Bhattacharya also warned the alliance partners: “There are many seats in Bihar where, if we don’t support them and our leaders don’t campaign, it could result in huge losses for the Grand Alliance.”
Prakash Kumar Pandey