With the Bihar assembly election due by October-November, deliberations on the sharing of seats in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of the JDU and BJP is nearing an equation, a report on Sunday said. The opposition Mahagathbandhan of the RJD and Congress has amped up its campaign with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav launching a ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’.
Seat-sharing talks in the NDA are in the final stages, with the two bigger parties, the BJP and CM Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) or JDU, likely to contest 100-105 seats each out of the total 243, The Indian Express reported.
In 2020, Nitish Kumar's JDU contested 115 seats and won 43, while the BJP fought 110 seats and won 74. There was a wide difference in the strike rate, yet Nitish remained the leader. And the JDU is unwilling to go below 100 seats to contest this time too, the report said.
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Chirag Paswan, whose party went solo in the last state election, is now a union minister in Narendra Modi's government. His Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will be a part of the NDA. But he is demanding 40 seats, a number he is unlikely to get, the report said.
{{/usCountry}}Chirag Paswan, whose party went solo in the last state election, is now a union minister in Narendra Modi's government. His Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will be a part of the NDA. But he is demanding 40 seats, a number he is unlikely to get, the report said.
{{/usCountry}}This math will also determine how many of the remaining go to smaller parties, such as union minister and ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha. If Mukesh Sahani's Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), currently part of the opposition alliance, switches sides, the equation will be impacted further, said the report.
JDU-LJP factor
Chirag Paswan's party contested 115 seats last time, winning just one — and that MLA later went to the JDU. But analysts said it ruined JDU's chances on over 30 seats as Chirag Paswan targeted Nitish but showed reverance towards Modi and the BJP. Cut to 2025, his LJP is now a part of the NDA seat-sharing talks.
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A senior NDA leader said there was no question of the JDU contesting fewer seats than the BJP, and attributed the party's below-par performance last time to the LJP's presence on seats allotted to the JDU.
The leader stressed that the campaign is centred around keeping Nitish as chief minister. He, however, added that "minor adjustments" may have to be made to accommodate allies.