Congress finalises 25 candidates for Bihar election 2025, MP says ‘Nitish Kumar as CM face will be good for us’

Bihar Elections 2025: The Congress has finalised the names of 25 party candidates as seat-sharing talks continue for the Bihar Assembly elections. Members of the Mahagathbandhan have made repeated efforts to present a united front in recent weeks — even as cracks emerged over the selection of a Chief Ministerial candidate. The Congress has not released the names of its chosen candidates and a formal announcement will come “only after discussion with alliance partners”.

Efforts are currently underway to resolve seat-sharing disputes — with the Congress reportedly seeking 70 seats. According to a PTI report, the Rashtriya Janata Dal is likely to contest 135 to 140 seats. The party has reportedly offered the Congress 50 to 52 seats. The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation — another big constituent of the INDIA bloc — also appears to be unhappy with the 20 to 25 seats offered. The Vikas-sheel Insaan Party remains adamant about contesting at least 40 seats.

Party leaders however suggested that it would be “good” to have Chief Minister Nitish Kumar leading the NDA campaign — accusing the JD(U) chief of fostering issues such as unemployment, healthcare, and other problems in Bihar.

“People in Bihar, seeing Nitish Kumar’s face, remember that it is because of him that their family members are wandering in other states for employment, healthcare, and other issues. People are unable to find jobs, healthcare… So, if his face is at the forefront, it will be good for us,” Congress MP Mohammad Jawed told ANI.

Congress finalises 25 candidates

Sources told PTI that the party had now finalised the names of 25 candidates following a Central Election Committee meeting in Delhi. Top leaders — including Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi — reportedly joined the deliberations virtually to select the party candidates. Nominations for seats included in the first phase of elections will begin from October 10.

“At the CEC meeting, we said those seats which are traditionally held by the Congress would remain with us…for which candidates have also been decided after deliberations. But, we will declare the names of candidates only after discussion with our alliance partners and also with our state leaders. We are happy with the seats discussed today at the CEC meeting,” Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram told reporters.

The RJD is expected to field candidates from approximately 130 seats while the Congress nominees take another 50 Assembly constituencies. Reports suggest that recent outreach programs — including the events led by Rahul Gandhi — have elevated the possibility of Congress being allocated more seats.

NDA leaders spar over seat-sharing

Bickering among the ruling NDA partners in Bihar over seat sharing has come to the fore, even though the BJP, which held a meeting on Wednesday on the issue, claimed that everything is fine in the alliance.

Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said that he was “requesting and not making a claim” that his Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) be given a respectable number of seats, otherwise the party might not contest the election.

Another Union minister Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), which had earlier settled for around 20-22 seats, is now asking for at least 25 more.