Bihar Elections 2020: With LJP out of the equation, JDU to contest on 122 seats, 121 seats for BJP

New Delhi: With just two days left for filing nominations for the Bihar Assembly Elections, NDA announced the seat-sharing pact.

Addressing a joint press conference, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced that out of 243 seats, Janata Dal-United (JDU) has been allotted 122 seats and BJP has been 121 seats for the Bihar Assembly polls. JDU will give 7 seats to Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustan Awam Moarch (HAM) from its quota while BJP will also allot some seats to Vikassheel Insaan Party from its share.

“JD(U) has been allotted 122 seats. Under that quota, we are giving 7 seats to HAM. BJP has 121 seats. Talks are underway, BJP will allot seats to Vikassheel Insaan Party under their quota,” JDU chief Nitish Kumar told reporters here.

JD(U) has been allotted 122 seats. Under that quota, we are giving 7 seats to HAM. BJP has 121 seats. Talks are underway, BJP will allot seats to Vikassheel Insaan Party under their quota: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar #BiharElections pic.twitter.com/DVj1oq7Uhu

— ANI (@ANI) October 6, 2020

Earlier today, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) met at the Chief Minister’s official residence in Patna. Devendra Fadnavis, Sushil Modi, Sanjay Jaiswal, and Bhupendra Yadav were present at the meeting.

Elections to the 243-seat Bihar assembly will be held in three phases–October 28, November 3, and 7 and the counting of votes will take place on November 10.

Ram Vilas Paswan is unwell. We want him to recover. Did he reach Rajya Sabha without JDU’s help? How many seats do they have in Bihar Vidhan Sabha? Two. So, BJP-JD(U) gave him ticket to RS. What do we have to do with what someone says?: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on LJP #BiharPolls pic.twitter.com/etTtpNE3Tq

— ANI (@ANI) October 6, 2020

In the 2015 assembly polls, JD-U, RJD, and Congress had fought the elections together under the Mahagathbandhan banner. On the other hand, the BJP-led NDA had fought the elections with Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and other allies.

RJD with 80 seats had emerged as the single largest party in the elections, followed by JD-U (71), and BJP (53). However, BJP got the largest vote share (24.42 per cent), followed by RJD with 18.35 per cent and JD-U (16.83 per cent).

Differences later emerged between the RJD and JD-U in 2017, resulting in Chief Minister Nitish Kumar returning to the NDA.