NDA finalise seat sharing in Bihar in ‘48 hours’; BJP to fight in 17, JD(U) 16

While the BJP will contest 17 seats, the same as 2019; the Janata Dal (United) has got 16, one less than the previous election

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies on Monday announced the seat sharing agreement for the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, which will have a seven-phase election starting April 19.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar in Aurangabad on March 2. In January, the latter returned to the BJP-led NDA fold. (HT file.)

While the BJP will contest 17 seats, the same as 2019; the Janata Dal (United) has got 16, one less than the previous election. Five seats have been allocated to Lok Jan Shakti Paty, and one each to Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) and Jitan Ram Majhi’s HAM.

Announcing the seat sharing, BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde, who is also in-charge of Bihar, said the NDA allies sorted out the arrangement in 48-hours, an indication that there was no hustling for seats. After the JDU switched sides from the INDIA bloc to the NDA in January, there was speculation the BJP, will assert and bargain for more seats than 2019. The BJP had won all the 17 it contested in 2019, whereas the JDU lost one and had 16 MPs in the Lok Sabha.

On Monday, BJP leaders were joined by JDU’s Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Jha, for the seat sharing announcement.

“Although the parties in the NDA will fight on their respective symbols, we are fighting together...and all the parties will fight with all their might,” Tawde said addressing the media.

The BJP is banking on the RLSP and HAM to help increase its tally and vote share in the state. The NDA will need to bag all 40 seats to be able to meet the target of crossing 400 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats along with its allies said a person familiar with the details.

As per the seat sharing arrangement, the BJP will contest from West Champaran, East Champaran, Aurangabad, Madhubani, Araria, Darbhanga, Muzzafarpur, Maharajganj, Saran, Ujiarpur, Begusarai, Nawada, Patna Sahib, Patiliputra, Ara, Buxara and Sasaram. The JDU has Valmikinagar, Sitamarhi, Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Kishanganj, Katiyar, Purnia, Madhepura, Gopalganj, Siwan, Bhagalpur, Banka, Munger, Nalanda, Jehanabad and Sheohar.

LJP has retained its bastion of Hajipur, Vaishali, Samastipur, Khagaria and Jamui. Its leader Chirag Paswan is likely to be the contestant from Hajipur, a seat that his uncle and union minister Pashupati Paras is coveting. The HAM will contest the Gaya seat and RLP has got Karakat seat.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a party functionary said, “While the BJP won all the seats it contested in 2019, we will redouble efforts to ensure there is no room for loss of even one seat.” Barring Patliputra where Ram Gopal Yadav switched sides to the BJP and defeated RJD’s Misa Bharti with a margin of 39,000 votes, the BJP had a comfortable lead over its opponents.