The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has demanded 12 seats in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, the party’s spokesperson Manoj Pandey said on Sunday.
He stated that two senior JMM leaders would soon meet the Leader of the Opposition in Bihar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav to discuss seat-sharing arrangements.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is reviewing election preparedness in Bihar and has been holding a series of meetings with political parties and officials.
On Sunday, the second day of its two-day visit to the State, the ECI assessed the readiness of enforcement agencies to ensure free, fair and inducement-free elections.
The review meeting in Patna was chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi also present.
The Commission met with the heads and nodal officers of various enforcement agencies to examine inter-agency coordination and security measures ahead of the polls. Bihar Chief Electoral Officer Vinod Gunjyal and senior ECI officials attended the meeting.
On Saturday, the Commission conducted a comprehensive review of election preparedness, covering issues such as logistics, manpower deployment and expenditure monitoring.
The Election Commission is expected to announce the dates for the Bihar Assembly polls soon. The review comes shortly after the publication of the final electoral roll for the State on September 30, marking the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
Also Read : Bihar Assembly polls before Nov 22, says CEC
According to the final list, Bihar now has a total of 7.42 crore registered voters, down from 7.89 crore recorded as of June 24 this year.
The electoral battle in Bihar is expected to be a direct contest between the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance), spearheaded by the RJD.
In the 243-member Bihar Assembly, the NDA currently holds 131 seats, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) having 80, the Janata Dal (United) 45, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) 4, and two Independents.
The Mahagathbandhan holds 111 seats — the RJD with 77, the Congress with 19, the CPI(ML) with 11, and the CPI(M) and CPI with two each.
Political activity across the State has intensified as parties trade accusations and step up their campaigns ahead of the high-stakes polls.
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