The National Democratic Alliance on Monday finalised its seat-sharing arrangement. While the Bharatiya Janata Party will contest in 17 Lok Sabha seats, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) has retained its share of 16 seats while 5 seats have been kept aside for the Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).
One seat each has been left aside for the two other NDA allies — the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM), Vinod Tawde, the BJP’s in-charge for elections in Bihar, said at a press conference at the BJP headquarters in Bihar today.
As per the details shared by Tawde, the BJP will contest Nawada, an LJP stronghold while Shoehar has been allotted to the JDU’s quota. The JD(U) will also contest from Kishanganj, the lone seat that the NDA lost in Bihar in the 2019 elections.
The five seats that have gone to the LJP’s quota include Vaishali, Hajipur, Samastipur, Khagaria and Jamui. Notably, the list finds no mention of the Pashupati Paras-led faction of the LJP. The party parted ways with the NDA after Chirag gained complete control of the party following a feud with his uncle after the demise of Ram Vilas Paswan.
Reacting to Paras’ exclusion from the seat-sharing agreement, BJP leader and Bihar Deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary said, “Talks are going on. NDA will win all 40 seats in the state.”
The development will be yet another test for the NDA following Nitish’s re-entry into the NDA fold after a brief detour to the RJD. Even during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the two parties reunited and decided to contest the elections on a 50:50 formula. The BJP and JD(U) contested 17 seats each while the LJP fought on 6 seats.