The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is set to finalise seat-sharing arrangements among its constituent parties today. The BJP core committee is scheduled to meet in Delhi today to finalise and discuss the names of candidates for the two-phase Bihar Assembly elections.
The meeting will be chaired by the party’s National President JP Nadda. Senior BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other members of the Core Committee, will attend the meeting. Announcement on seat-sharing arrangements among NDA and its allies is likely to be made after the meeting.
Talking to the media, BJP’s State president Dr Dilip Jaiswal said, a formal agreement regarding seat distribution has been reached. He said the announcement will be made today.
Yesterday, BJP’s election in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan, Bihar in-charge Vinod Tawde, and other senior leaders held both separate and joint meetings in Patna with various NDA allies. The BJP held discussions with the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), and Hindustani Awam Morcha. Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Nityanand Rai met Chirag Paswan in New Delhi.
Our Patna correspondent reports that the BJP is likely to contest 101 seats, while the JD(U) will contest 102 seats. The remaining seats will be distributed among allied parties – Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Rashtriya Lok Morcha, and Hindustani Awam Morcha. Bihar has a total of 243 Assembly seats.
Meanwhile, Congress Campaign Committee Chairman and senior leader Akhilesh Prasad Singh has said that the Grand Alliance has also reached an agreement on seat distribution and will announce it soon.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Parliamentary Board has authorised the party’s national president, Lalu Prasad, to take the final decision on candidate selection. Miffed by the delay in the Grand Alliance’s seat-sharing announcement, the CPI(M) has directed its two sitting MLAs, Satyendra Yadav and Ajay Kumar, to file their nominations. Left parties are reportedly upset over the prolonged delay in finalising seat distribution.
The election to the 243-member Bihar Assembly will be conducted in two phases. Polling for the first phase, covering 121 seats, will be held on the 6th of November. The remaining 122 constituencies will go to the polls in the second phase on the 11th of November.
