RANCHI: Assam Chief Minister and co-election in-charge for Jharkhand, Himanta Biswa Sarma, after a meeting of the party's election committee, informed the media persons that the seat sharing formula among the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners for the upcoming Assembly polls in Jharkhand is almost final.
He said that the first list of candidates will be announced within 48 hours of the declaration of poll dates by the Election Commission of India. He added that they are awaiting ECI's announcement.
According to Himanta, as per the seat-sharing arrangement, the Sudesh Mahto-led AJSU Party will get nearly 10 seats; may be 9 or 11 also. “There are some problems pertaining to one seat, which will be resolved very soon,” said Sarma.
"Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), on the other hand, will get two seats, while the talks with LJP (Ram Vilas) are yet to be held as party Chief Chirag Paswan is abroad," he added.
Sarma said that a consensus will be reached with Chirag Paswan, once he returns to India. He also said that the candidates for almost all the seats have been finalised, barring five or six, and the decision on them will be as well.
Sarma further added that a meeting is scheduled in Delhi tomorrow, during which things are likely to be finalised.
"The formal announcement of candidates will be done after a parliamentary board meeting. The election committee will meet again tomorrow, followed by the party's parliamentary board meeting", he said
The elections to the 81-member assembly are due this year as the term of the present House will end on January 5, 2025.