Bihar NDA Alliance Sealed: JD(U) to Fight on 122 Seats, BJP on 121

Out of its 122 seats, the JD(U) will give 7 seats to Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM).

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party have finalised a seat-sharing agreement. Image used for representation.

(Photo: The Quint)

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party have reached a seat-sharing agreement, with the JD(U) contesting 122 seats and the BJP 121.

Out of its 122 seats, the JD(U) will give seven seats to Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM). The number of seats that the BJP will give to Vikassheel Insaan Party is yet to be decided.

“JD(U) has been allotted 122 seats. Under that quota, we are giving seven seats to HAM. BJP has 121 seats. Talks are underway... BJP will allot seats to Vikassheel Insaan Party under their quota,” Nitish Kumar said, while addressing the media.

The Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), that had earlier joined hands with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the Mahagathbandhan, had walked out of the media briefing last week after the Opposition had announced its seat-sharing deal.

JD(U) Gave Paswan Ticket to RS: Nitish on LJP Parting Ways

Commenting on the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) parting ways with the JD(U), Nitish Kumar said that Ram Vilas Paswan became a Rajya Sabha MP with JD(U)‘s help.

“Did he reach Rajya Sabha without JD(U)‘s help? How many seats do they have in Bihar Vidhan Sabha? Two. So, BJP-JD(U) gave him ticket to Rajya Sabha,” he said.

LJP last week decided to not contest the upcoming Bihar elections in alliance with JD(U) due to ‘ideological differences’ and that it will contest polls to form the government with BJP.

Bihar deputy CM and BJP leader Sushil Modi said that they will approach the Election Commission (EC) if any other party uses PM Modi’s pictures in its election campaign.

“We got to know that some Independent candidates and dozens of parties in Bihar might use photos of CM or PM. If needed, we will write to the Election Commission that the BJP, JD(U), VIP, HAM are contesting together and only they can use PM’s photos. If someone else uses it, EC can take action,” Sushil Modi said.

In the previous Bihar elections, in 2015, the BJP had contested 157 seats and won 53, and the JD(U) had contested 101 seats and won 71.

The NDA’s announcement comes with the Bihar Assembly elections just around the corner. While votes will be cast on 28 October, 3 and 7 November, the results will be declared on 10 November.

The Bihar Assembly has 243 seats, out of which 38 are reserved for backward classes. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of polling booths has been increased to 1,06,000.