NDA Finalizes Bihar Seat-Sharing Deal: BJP and JDU to Contest 101 Seats Each, LJP Gets 29

The NDA has finally reached an agreement on Bihar seats after weeks of negotiations. The seat-sharing arrangement was announced by Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan on X (formerly Twitter). According to the deal, the BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United will each contest 101 of Bihar's 243 assembly seats.

Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Morcha and Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) will receive six seats each, as posted by Mr. Pradhan, who is also the BJP's in-charge for the state's assembly elections.

Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), which had been the cause of delay in finalizing the deal, has been allocated 29 seats.

The regional BJP ally had been demanding 40-45 seats, while the BJP was initially willing to offer only 25 seats. LJP leaders had even hinted they might consider an alliance with Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party.

It took multiple meetings with Mr. Pradhan before the LJP chief agreed to the revised offer.

While the BJP has given the LJP only four additional seats, the allocation of 29 seats required sacrifices from both the BJP and Janata Dal United.

In the 2020 Bihar assembly election, the JDU had contested 115 seats, while the BJP had fielded candidates in 110 constituencies.

The turning point in negotiations was the LJP's insistence that seat allocation should be based on its performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, where it achieved a perfect strike rate (winning all five seats it contested), as well as its showing in the 2020 Assembly elections.

Paswan Junior had also requested that his party be allocated at least two assembly seats within each of the five Lok Sabha constituencies currently held by the LJP. Additionally, seats were requested for senior LJP leaders.