New Delhi/Patna: The seat-sharing arrangement among National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections has been finalized and is likely to be officially announced on Saturday. The formula was decided after a series of meetings among senior NDA leaders over the past few days in Delhi and Patna.
According to sources, senior leaders from all alliance partners will be present during Saturday’s announcement, where the number of seats to be contested by each party will be revealed. As the largest constituent of the alliance, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken the lead in finalizing the seat-sharing framework.
An important meeting of the Bihar BJP core group has been scheduled for 11 am on Saturday at the residence of BJP national president J.P. Nadda in Delhi. The meeting will be attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, senior Bihar BJP leaders, and core group members. The session is expected to focus on finalizing candidate names and discussing the ticket distribution strategy for the polls.
JD(U) to Contest 105 Seats, Six Sitting MLAs Denied Tickets
Sources indicate that the Janata Dal (United) will contest 105 assembly seats this time, with six sitting MLAs being denied tickets. Two of these legislators have already joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) fearing exclusion. The party has reportedly assessed the winnability of each candidate during a recent meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Most of the MLAs whose tickets have been denied were considered to be working against the party line. In the previous elections, JD(U) had contested 115 seats, out of which seven were given to its ally Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM).
Chirag Paswan, Nityanand Rai Signal Resolution
In Delhi, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan and Union Minister Nityanand Rai met on Friday to iron out final differences over seat sharing. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Chirag Paswan said, “Talks regarding seat sharing are in the final stages. We are clearing everything in advance.”
When asked about his demands being met, Chirag replied, “Where my Prime Minister Modi is, at least I don’t need to worry about my respect.” Nityanand Rai added, “Everything will be finalized soon.”
Their positive statements and smiling appearances after the meeting indicated that the seat-sharing dispute had been resolved. Multiple rounds of discussions were held between Chirag Paswan and BJP leaders in Delhi over the past three days to reach a consensus.
High-Level NDA Meetings in Delhi and Patna
Earlier on Friday, Nityanand Rai visited Chirag Paswan’s residence in Delhi, while separate meetings among NDA leaders took place in Patna at the residence of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Samrat Chaudhary.
The meeting in Patna was attended by JD(U) state president Umesh Kushwaha, MPs Sanjay Jha and Lallan Singh, ministers Vijay Chaudhary and Lalan Saraf, and BJP election in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan. Key discussions centered around fine-tuning the seat-sharing formula and finalizing candidates.
Earlier in the day, Dharmendra Pradhan also met BJP leaders at the party MLC’s flat, where state in-charge Vinod Tawde, Mangal Pandey, and Rituraj Sinha participated. The leaders discussed the final draft of the candidate list ahead of Saturday’s core group meeting in Delhi.
Announcement Expected to End Weeks of Speculation
With Saturday’s announcement, the NDA aims to project unity and momentum ahead of the polls, putting an end to weeks of speculation and internal negotiations over seat distribution among alliance partners.
