On the final day for filing nominations for the 2025 Bihar Elections, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) withdrew from the election.
JMM cited a 'political conspiracy' by its INDIA bloc allies, INC and RJD, who previously sidelined the party in the 2020 state assembly electionss.
The RJD has announced 143 candidates for the polls, and INC has listed 60. A formal seat-sharin agreement is yet to be finalised.
The opposition INDIA bloc suffered a major setback on the final day of nominations for the 2025 Bihar Assembly Elections. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) formally withdrew from the race on Monday, 20 October 2025, accusing its alliance partners Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress of a “political conspiracy” to sideline it. The move has further exposed divisions within the opposition coalition as the polls draw nearer and a formal seat-sharing plan remains pending.
JMM’s decision came hours after the RJD announced its list of 143 candidates and the Congress released its final list of six, taking its total tally to 60. JMM had earlier, on 18 October 2025, announced that it will be fighting the elections unaligned from six seats, citing failed talks within the INDIA bloc. The seat announcements effectively concluded the INDIA bloc’s internal negotiations without any formal seat-sharing agreement, ending weeks of friction between the alliance partners.
Senior JMM leader and Jharkhand minister Sudivya Kumar said his party’s withdrawal was a response to being deliberately excluded from the seat distribution. “The RJD and the Congress are responsible for depriving JMM from contesting the election as part of a political conspiracy. JMM will give a befitting reply to this, and review its alliance with RJD and Congress,” Kumar told reporters on Monday.
He recalled that in the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls, the JMM was promised three seats by the RJD and Congress but was later denied those constituencies. “In last year’s Jharkhand polls, the JMM left a respectable number of seats for the Congress, RJD and the Left, but the party was humiliated again in the 2025 Bihar election,” he said.
The JMM’s withdrawal adds to a series of challenges for the opposition camp. Reports indicate that the Mahagathbandhan, comprising the RJD, Congress, CPI(ML), CPI, CPM and Mukesh Sahani’s VIP, has faced disputes in at least 11 constituencies, including Lalganj, Vaishali, Rajapakar, Rosera, Biharsharif, Bachhwara, Tarapur, Kahalgaon, Chainpur, Gaura Bauram and Kargahar. In several of these seats, multiple nominations were filed by members of the same alliance, underlining a lack of coordination.
For the RJD, which leads the INDIA bloc in Bihar, the release of its full candidate list without a formal pact underlines its dominant role but also the fragility of its partnerships. Of the 143 RJD candidates, 24 are women and 16 are Muslims. The Congress, contesting 60 seats, announced its last six candidates post-midnight on October 20, while the CPI(ML) is contesting 20. The remaining seats in the 243-member assembly are expected to go to Sahani’s VIP.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) said that with the close of nominations on Monday, 1,314 candidates remain in the fray for the first phase, covering 121 constituencies. Polling will be held in two phases: on November 6 and November 11, and results will be declared on 14 November 2025.
The NDA, led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party, is contesting the election alongside the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha. Political observers say the INDIA bloc’s internal divisions may benefit the NDA on key seats.
Union Minister and LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan criticised the opposition alliance for what he called “so-called friendly fights,” saying, “There is nothing called a friendly fight, either you are friends or you are fighting each other. The friendly conflict does not happen in politics; this is wrong terminology.” Paswan’s party is contesting 29 seats as part of the NDA.
As the nomination process concludes, the INDIA bloc finds itself fractured, with key allies trading accusations and former partners walking away. With polling just weeks away, the opposition coalition faces the dual challenge of projecting unity while countering a well organised NDA alliance in a tightly contested Bihar election. [Rh/Eth/DS]