BJP gets 17, JD(U) 16; Chirag gets 5, Paras none

The National Democratic Alliance on Monday announced its seat sharing agreement for 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in which it chose Chirag Paswan over his uncle and union minister Pashupati Paras.

As per the deal, Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas) led by Chiraj Paswan got five seats, including Hajipur, from where Paras is the sitting MP. Paras is likely to resign from union cabinet. The elections for 40 LS seats in Bihar will be held in sevenphases starting April 19. Results will be declared on June 4.

While BJP will contest 17 seats, the same as 2019, chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United has got 16, one less than it got last time. One seat each has gone to Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha and former CM Jitan Ram Majhi’s HAM.

BJP is likely to allocate a seat to Mukesh Sahni’s VIP from its quota.

Announcing the seat sharing, BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde, who is also in-charge of Bihar, said the NDA allies sorted out the seat distribution in 48 hours.

After JDU switched sides from the INDIA bloc to the NDA in January, there was speculation the BJP, will assert and bargain for more seats than 2019. The BJP had won all the 17 it contested in 2019, whereas the JDU lost one and had 16 MPs in the Lok Sabha.

On Monday, the BJP leaders were joined by JD(U)’s Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Jha, for the seat sharing announcement.

“Although the parties in the NDA will fight on their respective symbols, we are fighting together...and all the parties will fight with all their might,” Tawde said addressing the media.

BJP is banking on Kushwaha and Manjhi to help increase its tally and vote share in the state. NDA will need to bag all 40 seats to be able to meet the target of 400 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats along with its allies, said a person familiar with details.