The RJD will give one seat to the CPI-ML from its quota and former JD-U president Sharad Yadav will contest on RJD symbol.
M I Khan reports from Patna.
Ending days of speculation, the opposition Grand Alliance in Bihar on Friday announced its seat-sharing formula for the Lok Sabha elections.
According to this formula, the Rashtriya Janata Dal will contest 20 seats, the Congress nine seats, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party five seats, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha three seats and Vikasheel Insaan Party will contest three seats.
The RJD will give one seat to the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist from its own quota, while former Janata Dal-United president Sharad Yadav will contest on the RJD symbol.
The 'mahagathbandhan' will not support the former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who is a Communist Party of India candidate from Begusarai.
However, the Grand Alliance announced candidates for only four of the 40 Lok Sabha seats which are going to polls in the first of the seven phases. The rest of the 36 candidates will be announced later.
The announcement was made during a joint press conference at Patna's Maurya Hotel.
The CPI was keen to join the Grand Alliance on the condition that it should be given at least one seat, Begusarai, from where Kanhaiya Kumar is its candidate.
But with the RJD refusing to play ball, the CPI will now contest alone.
The CPI has already announced that with or without the Grand Alliance, Kanhaiya will contest from Begusarai.
RJD state president Ramchandra Purbe announced candidates for four Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the first phase.
Two of the four seats -- Gaya and Aurangabad -- will be contested by HAM, while the Nawada seat will be contested by the RJD and Jamui seat will be contested by the RLSP.
Purbe said Manjhi will be the Grand Alliance candidate from Gaya, a reserved parliamentary constituency.
The RJD will field Vibha Devi from Nawada, the HAM will field Upendra Prasad from Aurangabad and the RLSP will field Bhudeo Choudhary from Jamui.
Purbe said the RJD will give one seat to the CPI-ML from its quota of 20 seats.
The Grand Alliance has not given any seat to other left parties.
In the last Lok Sabha polls, Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance won 31 seats. The BJP alone won 22 seats, the Lok Janshakti Party six seats and the RLSP three seats.
This time, the RLSP is not a part of the NDA.
In 2014, the JD-U was not part of the NDA and contested alone, winning only two seats.
The RJD then won four seats and the Congress two. Nationalist Congress Party's Tariq Anwar, who won one seat, has since left the party to join the Congress.
