BJP, JDU now at ‘sacrifice’ stage for allies in deciding seats for Bihar election 2025

Both parties sat across the table Monday to thrash out those details, which included constituencies they planned to swap or give up in favour of smaller allies.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) has already struck a seat-sharing deal with NDA ally BJP, but some details are being ironed out. Both parties sat across the table on Monday to thrash out those details, which included constituencies they planned to swap or give up in favour of smaller allies.

JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh, BJP in-charge for Bihar polls Dharmendra Pradhan, JD(U) MP Sanjay Kumar Jha, BJP in-charge of Bihar Vinod Tawde, state minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary and state Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary during a meeting of the leaders of the NDA constituent parties regarding the Bihar Assembly elections.(X/ Jduonline)

The NDA announced the seat-sharing formula for the coalition on Sunday, with both the JD(U) and the BJP contesting 101 seats each in the polls to the 243-strong assembly. Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janashakti Party (Ram Vilas) got 29 seats in the deal.

Rashtriya Lok Morcha of Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) of former chief minister, and now a Union minister, Jitan Ram Manjhi, got six seats each.

• According to sources quoted in a PTI report, both JD(U) and BJP, which contested 115 and 110 seats, respectively, in 2020, discussed the seats they would "sacrifice" this time to accommodate the smaller allies.
• The two parties may also "swap" some of the seats based on local "equations," as they did in the Lok Sabha polls last year.

Jitan Ram Manjhi’s outburst

Jitan Ram Manjhi doesn't seem to be happy with the deal and feels “undervalued” after getting the same number of seats as Upendra Kushwaha and way less than Chirag Paswan’s party, although only his HAM is represented in the outgoing assembly out of the three.

PTI reported that he warned the NDA of the "adverse effects" of the "raw deal" given to his party on Sunday, even though he stopped short of revolting against the coalition.

‘No bitterness’

Bihar minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Nabin downplayed the outbursts of Manjhi.

"There is no bitterness anywhere. All is well and all constituents are now busy finalising candidates so that they could file their nomination papers at the earliest," PTI quoted Nabin, who is himself hoping to retain Bankipur assembly seat in Patna for a record fifth consecutive term, as saying.

BJP sources quoted in the report said that the central leadership was considering candidates' names, and upon its nod, the list would be announced.

Meanwhile, JD(U) sources said the list of the party's candidates would be released "soon after an approval from the chief minister".

Nominations can be filed till October 17 for the first phase, and the process has also begun for the second phase. Bihar will vote on November 6 and November 11, while the result will be announced on November 14.