Bihar Assembly Elections 2025 alliances: The NDA includes the BJP, the JDU, LJP (RV), the HAM (Secular) and the RLM. Meanwhile, the Mahagathbandhan or the grand alliance constitutes the RJD, Congress, the VIP and the Left parties.

Political parties have geared up their preparations for the assembly elections in Bihar for which polling would be held in two phases - November 6 and 11. Although political strategist Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) and Tej Pratap Yadav's Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD) will be contesting the polls in Bihar, the 2025 elections are largely being seen as a direct contest between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Mahagathbandhan. 

The NDA includes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United (JDU), Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Manch (RLM). Meanwhile, the Mahagathbandhan or the grand alliance constitutes the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, Mukesh Sahani's Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and the Left parties. 

A look at NDA's constituents and the seat-sharing pact

According to the seat-sharing deal finalised by the NDA, the BJP and the JDU will contest on 101 seats each. Meanwhile, the HAM (Secular) and the RLM have been allotted six seats each.

The biggest gainer, however, seems to be the LJP (RV) which has been allotted 29 seats. Earlier, Paswan's party had demanded 40 to 50 seats, citing its performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections where it had won all five seats it contested. However, it was given 29 constituencies following a long deliberation between the alliance partners over seat-sharing.  

In the previous elections, the BJP and the JDU had finalised a 121:122 seat-sharing formula. Out of its 122 seats, the JD-U gave seven seats to the HAM (Secular). Meanwhile, the BJP contested on 110 seats, as it gave 11 of its seats to Mukesh Sahani's VIP.

The VIP, which is now a part of the Mahagathbandhan, had contested the 2020 Bihar polls as part of the NDA.

The BJP and the JDU had won 74 and 43 seats in 2020 polls, respectively. Meanwhile, the HAM (Secular) bagged four seats. The LJP had contested on 137 seats, winning just one seat.

No seat-sharing deal in Mahagathbandhan?

Unlike the NDA, the Mahagathbandhan has not been able to arrive on a consensus over the seat-sharing, because of which several seats will witness a friendly contest between the grand alliance partners. The RJD, which leads the alliance, is contesting on 143 seats. Meanwhile, Sahani's VIP is contesting on 15 seats. The VIP had demanded 40 to 50 seats, but has settled for 15 seats and the post of the deputy chief minister if the alliance comes to power in the state.

The Left parties also wanted to contest on more seats, citing their performance in 2020 Bihar elections. In the previous elections, the Communist Party of India (ML) Liberation won 12 of the 19 seats it contested, the Communist Party of India (CPI) won two of the six seats it contested, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) won two of the four seats it contested.

The Congress, on the other hand, won just 19 seats of the 70 it contested.

Bihar election schedule

As per the schedule declared by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the polling will be held in two phases - November 6 and 11. The counting of votes will take place on November 14.