Left parties, after the RJD, have openly aired their dissatisfaction at the seat sharing announced by the JMM-Congress — part of the ruling coalition — in the poll-bound Jharkhand.

CPI-ML which had a lone MLA in the existing Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha in the form of Bagodar MLA Vinod Singh who has supported the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition government on various crucial occasions on Monday expressed its desire to contest in eight seats.

“We are not happy with the seat allocated to CPI-ML in the seat-sharing announced by the INDIA bloc. We have a winning chance in at least eight seats and talks are being held with chief minister Hemant Soren. Depending on the outcome of the talks we might decide if we have to contest separately in the eight seats or with the coalition,” said CPI-ML state secretary Manoj Bhakat.

CPI-ML merged with MCC a few months back and has a considerable hold in the coal belts of Jharia, Sindri, Dhanwar and Nirsa.

The CPI, another Left constituent, is eyeing to contest 15 seats and has threatened to announce its list on Tuesday if its demands are not met by the ruling coalition.

“Our main motto is to defeat the BJP and we would like to fight the polls along with the INDIA bloc. However, we have a winning chance in nearly 15 seats and if our demands are not met by the coalition then we might have to contest separately,” said state CPI president Mahendra Pathak.

He, however, said that they might compromise to a certain extent for the larger purpose of defeating the BJP.

“Under no circumstances we will settle for less than five seats,” said Pathak.

On Saturday and Sunday, RJD Rajya Sabha MP and spokesperson Manoj Jha had claimed that the seat-sharing announcement by Hemant on Saturday was done "unilaterally" and on Sunday threatened to go solo in the Assembly polls if their demands for seats are not accepted by the JMM-Congress.

However, the party said it would not settle for 12 seats but would not sabotage the prospects of the INDIA bloc even if it decides to contest alone to ensure the defeat of the BJP.

"Less than 12-13 seats are not acceptable to us as the RJD has a strong hold on 18-20 seats. If we are asked to contest three-four seats, we are not ready to make any sacrifices," Manoj Jha said to the media in Ranchi on Sunday.

The RJD has one MLA in the present House in the form of Satyanand Bhokta who is part of the cabinet.

On Saturday, Hemant who is also executive president of JMM, after a meeting with the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Congress Jharkhand-in-charge Ghulam Ahmed Mir announced that the Congress and the JMM will contest in 70 out of a total of 81 Assembly seats of Jharkhand in the two-phase Assembly polls scheduled on November 13 and 20.

He had also announced that the remaining 11 seats will be shared between the RJD (which is already part of the coalition government) and Left parties who will be joining the ruling coalition for the first time.