Bihar MLC polls: Before taking on each other, rival alliances face bigger contests within

Politics in Bihar has heated up ahead of the election to eight seats of the Teacher and Graduate constituencies of the state Legislative Council, with both ruling NDA and Opposition Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) facing rebellion and challenges from within.

While the ruling BJP’s allies Janata Dal (United) (JD-U) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) are embroiled in bitter infighting separately, things are not much better in the Mahagathbandan camp either, where Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress are directly fighting each other. The crisis in JD(U) is very serious, as it has split the party from top to bottom.

JD(U) strongman vows to defeat NDA candidate

It was evident on Monday (October 5) when Union Panchayat Raj Minister and former JD(U) president Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’ failed to convince party MLA Anant Singh to support the party’s official candidate in the Patna Graduate constituency, Neeraj Kumar, considered a close confidant of party chief Nitish Kumar. Anant has been openly campaigning for opposition Jan Suraaj Party’s (JSP) MLC candidate Anuj Singh.

Also read: Anant Singh vs Neeraj Kumar: How a JD(U) feud is testing Nitish’s party

“Hum Neeraj ke liye vote nahi mangege, hum Neeraj ko harayenge (I won’t seek votes for Neeraj, I will defeat him),” the strongman said as Lalan tried to pacify him.

In JD(U), no one, not even those close to Nitish, dare say a word against Anant. Popularly known as Chote Sarkar, Anant is a criminal-turned-politician still facing several criminal cases, include murder, kidnapping, extortion. He has served jail terms in serious criminal cases.

200-km road show for JSP candidate

Anant recently held a 200-km road show in favour of Anuj. Starting from Patna, it passed through Bakhtiyarpur, Nalanda, and finally reached Nawada district, where Anant appealed to people with folded hands to support Anuj.

Anant even participated in Anuj’s nomination filing procession on October 1, got 50,000 rasgullas made and distributed these among people—apparently to celebrate Neeraj’s likely defeat. Anant was seen with Anuj in an open jeep with hundreds of his supporters and followers on SUVs, two wheelers and on foot in an immense show of strength.

Ironically, Anant, who was accused last year of the murder of Dularchand Yadav, who was working for Prashant Kishor’s JSP during the 2025 polls, is today backing the same party’s MLC candidate. Anant was even jailed for it last year. Interestingly, Kishor has remained a silent spectator, and so has the BJP, not showing any interest in intervening, even for the sake of the alliance.

Tit for tat

However, a shocked JD(U) working president and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kumar Jha requested Lalan to resolve the deep differences between Anant and Neeraj. But Lalan reportedly backed Anant’s stand against Neeraj, though not in so many words, and questioned the party leadership’s (read Nitish’s) silence during the Bihar assembly polls last year, when Anant was the party candidate from Mokama but was publicly opposed by Neeraj and faced a misinformation campaign. Anant won the seat anyway.

Also read: Jan Suraaj eyes Delhi entry after Prashant Kishor’s Bankipur bypoll win

Lalan further pointed out that Anant contested the polls last year on Nitish’s advice after he supported the JD(U) chief during a no-confidence motion against the government in 2024 after Nitish, then chief minister, dumped the RJD and joined hands with the BJP and formed the government. Anant’s wife is an RJD MLA.

Lalan reportedly put it plainly: If there has been an action, there will be a reaction.

Sushashan Babu and his criminal ‘friend’

Anant and Neeraj have been fighting to prove their loyalty and closeness to Nitish. But Anant’s claim, that he was helping Nitish for a long time, has come as an embarrassment for the former CM, who holds an image of “sushashan babu” (man of good governance). His party leaders always project him as a leader who established rule of law in Bihar during his 20-year tenure as against the RJD’s “jungle raj”.

“When Nitish Kumar was nothing, much before he became chief minister, I was with him. I sold my cows and buffaloes to weigh him with silver coins,” said Anant. During the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, the year before Nitish became chief minister, Anant had indeed weighed him in silver coins in Mokama, his stronghold.

Neeraj, who filed his nomination papers on Monday (October 5) in the presence of Nitish’s son Nishant Kumar, the Bihar health minister, claimed that there was no challenge to him and he was confident of winning the election from Patna Graduate constituency. “I have the full support of Nitish Kumar, who is still the real power centre in JD(U), and his son Nishant Kumar, who is the future of the party.”

Nitish’s waning influence

Patna-based political analyst Soroor Ahmad said the squabbling within the JD(U) exposes the deep divide within the party after Nitish’s departure from active politics. It appears no one leader now holds control over the party, as it used to be.

Also read: Bihar molestation cases put women’s safety and ‘sushasan’ claims under scrutiny

If Neeraj, whom Nitish is evidently backing, loses the MLC election, the party will be headed towards a major crisis, he said. Interestingly, Lalan, Neeraj and Anant, all belong to the powerful landed upper caste Bhumihar, which till now has been solidly behind the BJP and JD(U).

DM Diwakar, another political analyst who has closely observed Nitish’s political trajectory since the mid-1980s, said it was a clear political difference that has emerged within the party and exposed the weak leadership.

“Never before has such friction openly surfaced in the JD(U), and the leadership seems helpless before an MLA like Anant Singh. As long as Nitish was the chief minister and powerful, no one dared challenge his decisions. This is a new beginning and a bad sign for the political health of JD(U),” said Diwakar, a former director of the AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies in Patna.

RLM’s similar woes

Coming to the other BJP ally RLM, three of its four MLAs have openly revolted against the party and alliance leadership by announcing that they would not support JD(U)’s MLC candidate Anand Pushkar from the Saran Teachers constituency.

Madhav Anand, Rameshwar Mahto and Alok Singh have instead declared their support for party rebel Rampukar Sinha, who is now an independent candidate, even though RLM chief Upender Kushwaha, a former Union minister, has said his party will support the NDA candidate.

Kushwaha denied any differences in his party. “We are all going to support NDA’s MLC candidates,” he claimed. When asked about the three MLAs’ open revolt, Kushwaha vaguely said it seemed the “entire political atmosphere was intoxicating and all were under its influence”.

Also read: BJP did not force Nitish to give up CM's post, says Bihar CM Choudhary

A senior RLM leader said on condition of anonymity that party MLAs and leaders were unhappy with Kushwaha for ignoring them and promoting his family members, including his wife, son, and daughter-in-law, at the cost of party workers.

“RLM should have declared Rampukar Sinha as the candidate for the seat. He revolted after Kushwaha failed to fulfil the promise to field him. This resulted in anger and frustration among other MLAs, who are not ready to support NDA’s MLC candidate,” a senior RLM leader said.

Grand Alliance comes apart

If the NDA is weighed down by infighting, the Opposition Mahagathbandhan is not much better off either. Its two major allies, RJD and Congress, are contesting against each other, which is not a friendly fight.

Last week, the RJD announced its candidates for six of the eight MLC seats, taking the Congress by surprise. The latter, miffed with its ally over this unilateral decision, declared party candidates for five seats. Congress leader Asitnath Tiwari admitted there was a “lack of alliance coordination”. “The RJD took a unilateral decision; how do you expect the Congress to follow RJD’s line? Congress has to assert itself,” he added.

After that, the RJD decided to field candidates against all Congress candidates, including former Congress state president Madan Mohan Jha, for whom RJD had decided to leave the Darbhanga Teachers constituency. “It will be a direct fight between alliance partners on a few seats,” RJD leader Shakti Yadav admitted.

Eight Bihar legislative council seats will fall vacant on November 16. The polls are scheduled to be held on October 23, and the results will be announced on October 27.