NEW DELHI: BJP chief Amit Shah on Thursday announced that the party will stick to the old formula of seat adjustment with NDA ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab. The BJP will contest three Lok Sabha seats, while the SAD will field nominees on rest of the 10 Parliamentary constituencies. SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, along with party colleagues, on Thursday called on Shah at his residence. The BJP vice president and party in-charge for the state, Prabhat Jha, was also present in the meeting.
“The BJP-SAD will contest the Lok Sabha elections together. The seat adjustment formula will remain same as it had been in 2014,” Shah tweeted.However, the two parties didn’t disclose if there would be shuffling of the constituencies.
Incidentally, the SAD is keen to field its nominee from the prestigious Amritsar Parliamentary constituency. Union Minister Arun Jaitely had unsuccessfully contested from the Amritsar Parliamentary constituency against Congress’ Capt. Amarinder Singh in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP has, so far, sealed seat adjustments with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, JD(U) in Bihar and AIADMK and PMK in Tamil Nadu. The BJP is yet to announce seat adjustment plans for the Loksabha elections with smaller allies in Uttar Pradesh.