RJD leader contesting on Congress ticket from Jale seat in Bihar

The Congress on Friday (October 17, 2025) declared former MLA Rishi Mishra, who had quit the party three years ago to join the RJD, as its candidate from Jale constituency in Darbhanga district.

The one-off announcement from the party, which had a day ago released its "first list" of 48 candidates, came on a day when Mishra had filed his nomination papers from the seat, as a Congress candidate, hours before the process came to a close for the first phase in which 121 seats go to polls.

Mishra, a party-hopper who had won Jale seat on JD(U) ticket in a by-election in 2014, comes from a well-known political family of Bihar.

His grandfather Lalit Narayan Mishra was one of the most influential ministers in the cabinet of Indira Gandhi, while his grand uncle Jagannath Mishra was a chief minister of Bihar. His cousin Nitish Mishra, who is in the BJP, is a minister in the Nitish Kumar government in the state and is seeking to retain the Jhanjharpur seat.

According to INDIA bloc sources, the decision to field an RJD leader on a Congress ticket from Jale has come as a "compromise deal" between the two alliance partners, which have been at loggerheads ever since elections were announced, resulting in the coalition's inability to announce a seat-sharing formula.

The sources also said that the Congress' original choice for the seat, Mohd Naushad, was dropped because of the controversy that arose a few months ago when expletives were hurled against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from a podium he had erected to welcome the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who was passing by as part of 'Voter Adhikar Yatra'.

Meanwhile, veteran Congress leader Tariq Anwar expressed bewilderment over the manner in which candidates were being selected by the party and said it did not surprise him that disgruntled elements recently tried to manhandle those they believed to have "put tickets up for sale".

"One is unable to see any uniform criterion. Many candidates who had lost in the previous elections by a margin of a few hundred votes have been dropped. On the other hand, some others who were trounced have been considered", said Anwar, who represents Katihar Lok Sabha seat.

He added, "It was high time that a formal announcement was made with regard to seat-sharing and candidates being fielded by the respective parties in INDIA bloc. This is essential to avoid confusion. Though I am not of the opinion that not announcing a Chief Ministerial candidate is going to be a disadvantage. Union Home Minister Amit Shah's comments indicate that the BJP is taking Nitish Kumar along now but may not allow him to enjoy another term in office".