New DelhiSeptember 5, 2025 08:00 PM IST
First published on: Sep 5, 2025 at 08:00 PM IST
While the BJP and the Janata Dal (United) have reached an understanding to contest an equal number of seats — between 100 and 105 seats each — in the coming Bihar polls, sources said the final details of the arrangement still need to be ironed out. The reason: JD(U)’s insistence in getting at least one seat more than the BJP.
According to NDA sources, discussions around the final seat-sharing arrangement are likely to take place over the coming week, when alliance MPs and senior leaders would be in New Delhi to take part in a training camp related to voting in the Vice-Presidential elections scheduled for September 9. The BJP top brass is likely to host the leaders at various other events in the city too.
“The impression that we have so far been able to glean is that the JD(U) wants extra seats, even if one more than the BJP, so that (Bihar CM) Nitish (Kumar) ji’s popularity as well as the BJP leadership’s trust in his ability is consolidated,” a senior BJP leader said.
Sources in the JD(U) said the party was insisting on at least one seat more than the BJP for “political symbolism”.
“The Lok Sabha polls were fought under the leadership of Narendra Modi. At that time BJP contested on 17 seats while we contested on 16 seats. The Assembly polls are being contested with Nitish Kumar as the CM face. It is but natural that we should get one more seat. It will send the right message to the electorate both on Kumar’s leadership and the coordination within the NDA,” a senior JD(U) leader said.
However, Union Food Processing Minister Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), which has been pushing for 40 seats, could emerge as a significant factor in determining how many seats each party will end up getting. The LJP (RV) is claiming 40 seats on the grounds that it has five MPs, but sources said the BJP and the JD(U) were in no mood to give it more than half of that number.
“Chirag’s ambitions in the state need to be balanced in a way that the JD(U) is not affected,” a BJP leader said. Other allies such as Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Manch and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustan Awam Morcha would be accommodated after the three major players decide on their numbers, sources said.
In the 2020 Assembly elections, the JD(U), led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, contested 115 seats and the BJP 110. At the time, the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), then part of the NDA, contested 11 seats and the HAM (S) seven constituencies, while the LJP (then combined) contested 135 seats on its own. The BJP emerged as the stronger partner, winning 74 seats compared to the JD(U)’s 43.
Following the conclusion of a meeting on Bihar elections in New Delhi, which was chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP’s national leadership had issued directions to continue exhibiting a “united NDA front”.
The party decided that it would hold joint workers conventions across Assemblies.