NEW DELHI: With the assembly election campaigns picking up pace in Bihar, pressure is mounting on the senior partners of the opposition alliance, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress, as the Left parties are pressing for a significantly larger share this time.
The Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, and CPI-Marxist (CPM) are collectively demanding at least 75 assembly seats.
Though the Communist Party of India’s (CPI’s) general secretary D Raja on Monday said that the party is expecting a ‘reasonable’ share as part of Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance), the party is eying a fourfold increase this time.
“These are the things which our party congress decided. I have told you, CPI is a widespread force, and it has a strong demand in different parts of India. The CPI is a force to reckon with. A respectable share for us will ensure the victory of the opposition alliance,” said Raja.
He was speaking at a press conference in Delhi. Sources within the party said that it had conveyed a demand for at least 24 constituencies, citing its growing organisational strength across the state. In the previous election, the CPI fielded candidates on six seats and could win only two.
“Formal negotiation is yet to take place but the party is hoping for more seats this time. It is expected that we will get at least 10 and will never accept less than the number of seats which we fought for the last time in any condition,” said CPI sources.
The party had secured 0.83 percent of the vote share in 2020.
The CPIML-Liberation, the most electorally successful Left party, has already submitted its claims for 40 seats officially. The party has reportedly handed over a list of 40 seats to the alliance coordinator and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.
“We are prepared but maybe there are some 40 odd seats where we think that we can even contest. We would like to spread the net wide; maybe south Bihar and even in north Bihar,” (CPIML-Liberation) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya earlier told this newspaper. The party had contested 19 seats in the 2020 elections and won 12. Its vote share was 3.16 percent.
The Mahagathbandhan, which includes the RJD, Congress, and other Left parties, fell just short of a majority in the last election with 110 out of 243 seats. Meanwhile, another member of the Left combine, the CPM had claimed 11 seats. It had fought on four seats in the previous elections and managed to bag two with a vote of state of 0.65 percent.