PATNA: With the first phase of Bihar assembly elections less than a month away, the ruling NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc continue to grapple with the contentious issue of seat sharing.
Senior leaders negotiating seat sharing are further burdened by allies' demands for specific seats. Allies are not only seeking good number of seats, but also demaning favourable seats where their prospects of winning are higher.
In fact, smaller parties led by Union Ministers Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi, both NDA partners, have proved hard bargainers. Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has demanded 40-45 seats and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) 15-18 seats.
As a result, NDA two major allies—BJP and JD(U)—have decided to contest less number of seats compared to the 2020 assembly elections. In the 2025 assembly polls, BJP is expected to contest 101 seats while JD(U) will field its candidates in 102 constituencies.
On Wednesday, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is also BJP’s in-charge for Bihar elections along with Vinod Tawde met party leaders in Patna to discuss seat-sharing arrangements.
Meanwhile, Chirag Paswan has convened an emergency meeting of his party at its Patna office on Thursday to discuss seat-sharing deal.
“A meeting has been called by the party’s in-charge, who has been given the responsibility of election in-charge. The meeting will be held under the leadership of state president Raju Tiwari,” Chirag said.
At the meeting, party leaders are expected to discuss election strategies, seats and candidates. The state’s parliamentary board’s meeting was also held recently. “A proposal has been after the central parliamentary board meeting. The central parliamentary board meeting will discuss all these issues,” LJP(RV) chief told the media.
In 2020 assembly election, Chirag walked out of NDA and contested election solo. The party fielded its candidates in 137 seats and could win one seat only. However, it damaged JD(U) extensively in the election, reducing JD(U) tally to 43.
Regarding the seat-sharing deal, Manjhi went a step further and said that his party would not contest this election if it was not offered respectable number of seats. He, however, clarified that his party would continue to work for NDA partners. “Even if we don’t contest election, we will continue to work with NDA,” he told the media.
It is another matter that Chirag Pawan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has no MLA in the 243-member assembly. Jitan Ram Manhi’s HAM has only four MLAs. Yet they are putting pressure for more number of seats, citing their strike rates and poll percentage in the 2020 assembly elections.
In the 2020 assembly polls, BJP contested 110 seats and won 74, securing 19.8 per cent of votes with a strike rate of 43.2 per cent. The JD(U) contested 115 seats and won 43, with a 15.7 per cent of vote share and a 33.5 per cent of strike rate. Similarly HAM contested seven seats and won four with 0.9 per cent of vote share and a 32.9 per cent of strike rate.
On the other hand, INDIA bloc ally Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) led by Mukesh Sahani is also adamant on contesting not less than 30 seats. VIP has also asked for deputy chief minister’s post.
In Opposition bloc, RJD, which contested 144 seats in the 2020 polls and won 75, is now seeking at least 134 seats this time. The Congress, which had fought 70 seats earlier and won 19, is demanding 60–65 seats but may have to settle for around 55, sources said. The Left parties, which contested 29 seats and won 16, are pushing for at least 35 seats in the new arrangement.
