JMM leaders, Sudivya Kumar, second from left, and Vinod Kumar Pandey, third from right, with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, at his residence in Patna on October 7, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
As intense seat-sharing talks are under way with the Bihar-based political parties in the INDIA bloc, two senior leaders of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) met Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday (October 7, 2025) at his residence to demand seven Assembly seats in the Bihar elections.
The delegation included the Jharkhand government’s Urban Development Minister Sudivya Kumar and JMM central general secretary Vinod Pandey. Sources in the party said that both leaders pressed for the demand of seven seats and that the JMM submitted a list as well. Backing their demand, the JMM leaders said that the RJD had been allotted six Assembly seats in the Jharkhand elections held in November 2024.
Out of 81 Assembly seats, the RJD was offered six and won four in the Jharkhand Assembly elections. When the Hemant Soren government was formed, RJD’s Godda MLA Sanjay Prasad Yadav was also offered a Cabinet post.
According to JMM sources, the party wants to contest in Chakai, Banka, Katoria, Tarapur, Purnea, Manihari, and Dhamdhaha Assembly seats. Out of these seven, the RJD had finished second in five seats — Banka, Katoria, Chakai, Tarapur, and Dhamdhaha — in the 2020 Assembly elections, whereas the Congress won Manihari and finished second in Purnea.
Out of 243 Assembly seats in Bihar, 203 are general, 38 reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC), and two seats — Katoria and Manihari — reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST).
Senior RJD leaders including Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Bhola Yadav, RJD’s Jharkhand in-charge Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav, and RJD State unit president Mangani Lal Mandal were also present during the meeting.
While speaking to The Hindu on Wednesday (October 8, 2025), Mr. Pandey said, “The meeting with Tejashwi ji was held in a cordial manner, and we informed the RJD leader about the constituencies where JMM can perform better. At present, I cannot reveal the number of seats, but a decision will soon be taken after our leader, Chief Minister Hemant Soren ji, speaks to Lalu Prasad ji and Tejashwi ji.”
Sources in the RJD said that the party has agreed on two seats — Chakai and Katoria — to JMM, keeping the new alliance partners in mind, which include Vikassheel Insaan Party’s Mukesh Sahani and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party’s Pashupati Kumar Paras.
During the Jharkhand Assembly elections, the then-Congress president Rajesh Thakur had played the role of mediator when the RJD had threatened to contest alone if not given its desired number of seats. At that time, the RJD had demanded seven seats.
A senior JMM leader said that the Jharkhand Chief Minister has once again requested Mr. Thakur to convey a message to the Bihar Congress and RJD to set aside their egos before reaching a consensus.
“If JMM gets a fair share of seats, our Chief Minister and his wife, Kalpana Soren ji, will campaign for the INDIA bloc candidates in Bihar. They are crowd-pullers compared to other Opposition Chief Ministers, many of whom rarely deliver speeches in Hindi — be it from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, or Kerala. Hence, it would be good to keep JMM in good humour,” a JMM leader said, requesting anonymity.
Published – October 08, 2025 09:39 pm IST
