Bihar Election: Four Congress, VIP candidates withdraw nominations to support RJD allies | Who are they?

Just days before the Bihar Assembly elections, three Congress candidates and one from the Vikassheel Insaan Party withdrew their nominations to support their ally, the RJD, as reported by ANI.

Satish Kumar, the Congress candidate from Warsaliganj, withdrew in favour of RJD's Anita. Aditya Kumar from Lalganj also stepped down to back RJD’s Shivani Shukla.

Bindu Gulab Yadav of the Vikassheel Insaan Party from Babubarhi withdrew to support RJD’s Arun Kumar Singh. Congress candidate Tauquir Alam from Pranpur also withdrew, endorsing RJD’s Ishrat Parween.

The 243-member Bihar Assembly elections will be conducted in two phases on November 6 and November 11, with the results scheduled for November 14.

Meanwhile, PTI reported, citing sources, that there are some seats where constituents of the INDIA bloc are set to lock horns against each other due to internal discord among the Congress, RJD and Left parties over seat-sharing arrangements.

“Narkatiaganj, Vaishali, Rajapakar, Rosera, Bachhwara, Kahalgaon, Biharsharif and Sikandara are among these assembly constituencies,” sources told PTI.

“The Congress has always followed the coalition dharma... I must say that the RJD and Left parties fielded their candidates after the Congress had already announced the list of all its nominees,” Bihar Congress spokesperson Asit Tiwary told PTI.

The 2025 Bihar elections will see a contest between the NDA and the Mahagathbandhan. The NDA comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal (United), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), and Rashtriya Lok Morcha.

The Mahagathbandhan, led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal, includes the Congress party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) led by Deepankar Bhattacharya, the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Mukesh Sahani’s Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP).

Earlier in the day, the Mahagathbandhan announced RJD leader and Bihar Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav as the Chief Ministerial candidate for their alliance.

While making the announcement, Ashok Gehlot said that Tejashwi Yadav is a young leader with a bright future.

However, Bihar Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary accused the RJD of fielding candidates against Congress and other alliance partners to “pressure them into accepting Tejashwi as the CM face”.

Addressing a press conference in Patna, Choudhary said, “Lalu Yadav declared the CM face of Mahagathbandhan through hooliganism and torturing Congress and other parties, by fielding candidates against them, just the way they spread 'jungle raj' in Bihar.”

Additionally, Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj has staked claims to all 243 seats in the state.

(With inputs from agencies)