NDA's Bihar Seat Share Plan: BJP, JDU To Contest 101 Each, Chirag Paswan Gets 29

The NDA has finally inked the deal on Bihar seats after weeks of back-and forth. The break-up was posted on X, formerly Twitter, by Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Under the deal, the BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United will contest 101 each of the state's 243 assembly seats.  

The Rashtriya Lok Morcha of Upendra Kushwaha and Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustan Awam Morcha or HAM will get six seats each, posted Mr Pradhan, who is also the BJP's in-charge for the state's assembly polls.

Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) - for which the deal was held up for long -- will get 29 seats. 

The regional ally of the BJP had been playing hardball, demanding 40-45 seats, while the BJP was ready to allocate only 25 seats. The leaders of the party had even indicated that they would not rule out a tie up with Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party. 

It took several meetings with Mr Pradhan for the LJP chief to change his mind.

While the BJP has allocated only one more seat to the LJP, carving out 26 seats also involved sacrifices for the party and the Janata Dal United. 

While the JDU contested 115 seats in the 2020 Bihar assembly election, the BJP had contested 110.

What acted as gamechanger was the LJP's insistence that the number of seats be allocated to his party on basis of the five Lok Sabha seats it won in 2024 Lok Sabha polls and its performance in the 2020 Assembly elections. 

The LJP had a 100 per cent strike rate (five contested, five won), in the general election.

Paswan Junior had also proposed that at least two assembly seats be allotted within each of the five Lok Sabha constituencies currently held by his party. Seats have also been requested for senior leaders of the LJP.