The NDA finalised its seat-sharing in Bihar for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections Monday, allotting 17 seats to the BJP, 16 to the Janata Dal (United), 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).
Meanwhile, Kushwaha skipped the joint press conference held in Delhi for its announcement.
Kushwaha, who had expected at least two seats, has been in talks with the Opposition INDIA bloc and might join INDIA camp, sources say.
In 2019, both BJP and JD(U) had contested an equal number of seats, 17, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and this time the saffron party cornered one more seat than Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led socialist party.
The NDA, which had swept Bihar in the 2019 polls by winning 39 out of the state’s 40 seats, has now set a target of winning all the seats, said BJP national general secretary in charge of Bihar Vinod Tawde.
In 2019, the BJP, JD(U) and LJP together garnered 53% votes polled in Bihar.
, 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).){kind=link}