PATNA: CPI-ML (Liberation) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya on Monday expressed his confidence that Opposition Mahagathbandhan would form the next government in Bihar.

The party has fielded 20 candidates in the seats allotted to it as part of seat-sharing arrangement among the INDIA bloc for the election. All the 12 MLAs, who won the election in 2020, are contesting the election.

Bhore, Zeradei, Darauli, Daraunda, Digha, Kalyanpur, Warisnagar, Rajgir, Phulwari, Paliganj, Arah, Agiaon, Tarari, Ghosi, Dumraon, Sikta, Balrampur, Pipra, Karakat and Arwal are among the constituencies where the party has fielded its candidates.

In the 2020 Assembly elections, the CPI-ML contested 19 seats and won 12. Though it contested the previous Assembly elections as part of Mahagathbandhan, it did not join the alliance government in 2022. The party extended its outside support to the government, which lasted only for about 17 months.

Bhattacharya claimed that the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA)’s count would fall below ‘100’ as there was strong anti-incumbency that reflected in the highest ever voter turnout in the first phase of election on November 6.

He said that the high turnout showed anti-incumbency among voters against the ruling dispensation, adding “I am of the view that NDA will be reduced to below 100 seats and INDIA bloc will bag between 140 and 150 seats”.