BJP, JD(U) reach 50:50 seat-sharing formula for Bihar election: Report

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) (JDU) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have reached a seat-sharing agreement, NDTV reported quoting sources.

According to the report, the BJP will get 121 seats and the JD(U) will get 122 of the 243-seat state assembly.

Sources told the publication that for the Bihar Assembly polls, the JD(U) is set to accommodate Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha within its quota while the BJP will give seats to Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) if they continue to be a part of the alliance.

DH could not independently verify the report.

Indicating that it may not fight the state Assembly polls as part of the National Democratic Alliance, LJP party officials had revealed separately that the party may contest on 143 seats in the elections while not putting up its candidates against BJP nominees.

Unhappy with the seat-sharing arrangement offered to it, the LJP is hoping to inflict damage on poll prospects of the JD(U), which has maintained that the LJP is a BJP ally and not one of its own.

Also read: LJP's Chirag Paswan may fight Bihar Assembly Elections independently

Seeking to steal a march over the ruling NDA, the opposition Grand Alliance in Bihar, yesterday announced the number of seats assigned to the Congress, the CPI(ML), the CPI(M) and the CPI. RJD's Tejashwi Yadav said that his party was getting the lion's share of 144 seats.

The Bihar assembly polls will be held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7, and the counting of votes will take place on November 10.

The nomination process for the first phase, under which 71 of the total 243 seats will go to polls, began from October 1 and will end on October 8.

(With agency inputs)

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