RJD Announces 143 Candidates for Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav Fronts Raghopur

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has thrown its hat into the ring for the Bihar Assembly Election 2025, unveiling a formidable list of 143 candidates on Monday. Leading the charge is RJD’s prominent leader Tejashwi Yadav, who will contest from the Raghopur assembly seat in Vaishali district. This announcement comes amid a tense stalemate within the INDIA bloc, as coalition partners grapple over seat-sharing arrangements for the elections scheduled for November 6 and 11, with results to be declared on November 14. The RJD’s move signals its determination to assert dominance in Bihar’s political arena, setting the stage for a fiercely competitive electoral battle.

As the nomination process accelerates, the deadline to withdraw candidacy papers for the 121 seats in the first phase of polling on November 6 looms large, closing at 3 PM today. By late Sunday, a staggering 1,375 nominations had been accepted, reflecting the high stakes and intense interest in the elections. Meanwhile, other parties within the INDIA bloc are also mobilizing. The Congress has named candidates for 54 seats across both phases, while the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), led by Mukesh Sahani, has declared its intent to contest 15 seats via a recent post on X. The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation (CPI-ML) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) have put forward 20 and nine candidates, respectively, adding to the crowded electoral landscape.

The Bihar elections are not without their share of political drama, with defections and shifting allegiances stealing the spotlight. A notable example is Sarfaraz Alam, a former MP and four-time MLA, who recently defected to Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party. Alam, the son of former Union minister Mohammad Taslimuddin, previously won the Jokihat assembly seat on RJD tickets in 1996 and 2000, and later on Janata Dal (United) (JDU) tickets in 2010 and 2015. His switch is emblematic of a broader trend in Bihar politics, where loyalty often bends to strategic alliances. This election season, nine candidates who triumphed in the last state elections under different party banners are now running with new affiliations, highlighting the fluidity of political loyalties.

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The collapse of the Grand Alliance-led government last year has further fueled this wave of defections. Seven MLAs from the RJD and Congress have crossed over to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), with all but one securing party tickets for the upcoming polls. This political maneuvering underscores the pragmatic, often opportunistic, nature of Bihar’s electoral landscape, where alliances are forged and broken with remarkable frequency. As the state gears up for the November elections, the RJD’s candidate list and the broader political realignments signal a high-stakes contest that could reshape Bihar’s future.

Also Read: Tejashwi Yadav Files for Raghopur, Preempts I.N.D.I.A. Seat Talks