New Delhi: A recent meeting spearheaded by Union Home Minister Amit Shah has seemingly broken the deadlock between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (United). The meeting, held in New Delhi, concluded with the announcement of a seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.
Under the new arrangement, both the BJP and JDU will contest 101 seats each in the Bihar Assembly elections. The remaining seats will be allocated to other NDA (National Democratic Alliance) constituents. Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) is set to contest 29 seats, while the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) will each contest six seats.
Sources indicate that negotiations leading up to the agreement involved compromises from multiple parties. HAM(S), initially seeking no fewer than 15 seats, ultimately agreed to six assembly seats and one MLC seat. Similarly, the LJP(RV), which had hoped for 40 seats, settled for 29. Upendra Kushwaha's RLM had even considered contesting the elections independently if their demands were not met.
The resolution comes after a series of meetings and discussions among NDA leaders. Senior leaders, including Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda, met with the Bihar BJP core committee to discuss the election strategy. BJP's election in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan and Bihar in-charge Vinod Tawde also held separate and joint meetings with NDA allies in Patna.
BJP leaders have expressed confidence in the newly forged unity within the NDA. BJP General Secretary Vinod Tawde shared on social media that the decision has been welcomed with joy by leaders and workers of all NDA parties. Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary also stated that everyone has expressed their views and all are happy with the arrangement. JDU national working president Sanjay Kumar Jha shared that NDA colleagues have completed the distribution of seats in a cordial atmosphere.
The Bihar Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in two phases on November 6 and November 11, with vote counting to take place on November 14. In the previous elections in 2020, the BJP won 74 seats, while the JDU secured 43. This time around, the parties will be contesting an equal number of seats.
Meanwhile, the opposition Mahagathbandhan alliance is also expected to finalize its seat-sharing arrangements and release its list of candidates soon. Congress leaders have expressed frustration with delays in their alliance's seat-sharing talks, hinting at the possibility of contesting independently.
