The seat-sharing talks between the BJP and the Janata Dal (United) for the Jharkhand Assembly elections have failed and each party is now going ahead with finalising the candidates.
The JD(U) on Wednesday issued a list of 19 candidates for the first phase of elections on November 25, in which 30 Assembly segments will go to the polls. Party leaders said three more candidates were in the process of being finalised.
JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav said: “Representatives of our party and that of the BJP have been talking for the last few days. The talks have broken down and we are going ahead.” Mr. Yadav and JD(U) State unit president Jalesar Mahto said that last time, the party contested 18 seats of a total of 81. “We wanted an arrangement similar to the previous election. We were ready to give up a seat or two but the BJP was unrelenting and wanted to restrict us to 9 or 11. The talks have failed.”
Party leaders on both sides, however, said some arrangement could be arrived at for the remaining 51 seats.
