The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) finalised its seat-sharing arrangement for the Bihar Assembly elections amid much bargaining by the Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and some heartburn for Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP).
Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah, who had to cancel a trip to Mysuru on Sunday as the talks stalled over Mr. Manjhi’s demands for a certain number of seats, said the BJP would contest from 160 of the 243 seats, while the LJP would put up candidates in 40 and the RLSP in 23 seats. The HAM would get 20 seats and 4-5 members of Mr. Manjhi’s party would fight on the BJP symbol. “We have arrived at this arrangement after talks with all parties,” Mr. Shah said.
All the leaders were present at the press conference held to announce the seat allocation, but murmurs within the LJP and the RLSP were hard to quell. Sources in both parties said they had to give up a couple of seats each (the RLSP had originally been allotted 25 seats and the LJP 43) to accommodate Mr. Manjhi. “On Wednesday, when Ram Vilasji had a meeting with Ananth Kumarji (BJP co-prabhari or in charge for the State), he was told to accommodate Mr. Manjhi,” said a source.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken to Mr. Kushwaha, and thereafter he wrote to Mr. Amit Shah, agreeing to accept any arrangement arrived at by the BJP.
No word yet on contentious seats
Announcing the NDA’s seat-sharing arrangement for the Bihar elections, BJP president Mr. Shah refused to clarify whether or not seats in dispute between Jitan Ram Manjhi and Ram Vilas Paswan, especially in the Jamui and Chakai areas, were decided on.
These seats fall within the area of influence claimed by Mr. Paswan (his son Chirag Paswan is MP of Jamui), but Mr. Manjhi’s partymen say they have a claim to the seats. “Those are things which we will get into, we have broadly announced the number of seats each will fight,” he said.
A look at the break up of NDA:
BJP | 160 |
LJP | 40 |
RLSP | 23 |
HAM | 20 |
