Bihar Polls: Congress Picks 18, Seat Pact Still Stuck
The Congress is expected to issue party symbols to those candidates first who will be filling their nomination for the first phase of polls, as the last date of the filing of candidatures is October 17.
New Delhi: After several rounds of meetings and back-channel negotiations on the seat-sharing pact with the RJD, the Congress party on Tuesday held the party's central election committee meeting in the national capital and cleared the names of 18 candidates for the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls. The RJD, which allocated party symbols to a few candidates on Monday, held back as the INDIA bloc, helmed in Bihar by the party, is yet to formally announce a seat-sharing formula.
After the Congress CEC meeting, the sources indicated that besides the 18 names cleared, 43 more candidates are in the reckoning. The party will likely release the list of the first set of nominees on Wednesday.
The Congress is expected to issue party symbols to those candidates first who will be filling their nomination for the first phase of polls, as the last date of the filing of candidatures is October 17.
According to the sources, the Congress has formed a subcommittee led by Ajay Maken for the remaining seats. The sub-committee will meet on Wednesday morning to hold a discussion on these seats.
Seats where there is a disagreement between the alliance partners have been kept pending final consensus. Those seats which have been discussed at the CEC meeting are still subject to approval and will be discussed with the alliance partners before the official announcement of candidates.
After the CEC meeting ended, some party workers held a protest and raised slogans against Bihar in-charge Krishan Allavaru and state president Rajesh Ram when Congress president Mallikarjuna Kharge was leaving the party office at Akbar Road in the national capital.
During the seat-sharing negotiation between the Congress and the RJD and several rounds of back-channel meetings, the RJD had on Monday conceded 60–61 seats to the Congress, which was initially seeking 60 to 65 seats in the poll-bound state.
On Monday evening, unfazed by seat-sharing woes in the INDIA bloc, RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav gave away party tickets to several candidates until his son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav early on Tuesday pointed out at Patna that the INDIA bloc is yet to formally announce a seat-sharing formula.
The RJD’s insiders said that at the behest of the former deputy CM, distribution of party symbols was brought to a stop and well past midnight, those who had got tickets were asked to return the tickets on the ground of "technical issues".
According to RJD sources, Mr Yadav told his father that photographs and video clips of party candidates with the symbol will not go down well with alliance partners.
A stampede-like situation was witnessed on Monday evening outside 10, Circular Road, the bungalow allotted to the RJD supremo's wife Rabri Devi, a former CM, when the couple returned from Delhi, where they had appeared before a court.
As the air remained thick with anticipation, aspirants, who apparently received phone calls from the party, began pouring in, only to emerge minutes later with the party symbol in their hands and a broad smile on their faces. However, Mr Yadav, who returned from Delhi a few hours after his parents did, was said to have been upset with the development. The sources said that a formal announcement of candidates will be made latest by Wednesday. Mr Yadav is himself likely to file his nomination papers from Raghopur on October 15.
