NDA seals Bihar deal ahead of Lok Sabha polls: BJP to contest 17 seats, JD(U) 16, Chirag 5; Paras left in cold

The ruling NDA finalised its seat-sharing in Bihar for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls Monday, allotting 17 seats to the BJP, 16 to the JD(U), five to the Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and one each to Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM).

There were some signs of strains within the NDA over the agreement, with Kushwaha skipping the joint press conference held in Delhi for its announcement.

Sources said Kushwaha, who had expected at least two seats, has been in talks with the Opposition INDIA bloc and might join the latter’s camp.

The BJP got an upper hand over Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U), as both the major allies had contested an equal number of seats, 17, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

One of the highlights of the NDA’s seat-sharing is Jamui MP Chirag Paswan getting the better of his uncle and Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, who had split his party in 2022.

Paras, who is currently Hajipur MP, failed to get any seat for his National LJP faction from the BJP, which preferred Chirag over him in view of its assessment that the latter was the “real claimant” to his father late Ram Vilas Paswan’s legacy and would hold on to the Paswan vote.

Chirag, however, had to concede one of the LJP’s sitting seats, Nawada, to the BJP.

If Paras, who is said to be in touch with the INDIA camp, switches sides, there could be a fight between Chirag and Paras in Hajipur, the seat that Ram Vilas represented nine times.

Declaring the seat-sharing pact, BJP national general secretary in charge of Bihar Vinod Tawde claimed that the NDA allies have clinched it in “48 hours”. The NDA, which had swept the state in the 2019 polls by winning 39 out of the state’s