The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (United) will share 34 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar among themselves in the 2019 elections, leaving six for the Lok Janshakti Party. The announcement was made by BJP chief Amit Shah after the National Democratic Alliance in the state reached the seat-sharing agreement, PTI reported.
The BJP and the JD(U) will contest 17 seats each. Bihar sends 40 members to the Lok Sabha. The Lok Janshakti Party will also be given a Rajya Sabha seat, with its president, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, likely to be its candidate.
Shah’s press conference was also attended by Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar, Ram Vilas Paswan and his son, Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan.
“The seat-sharing deal has been reached after keeping in mind the ground realities, the political situation of each seat in the state, and the National Democratic Alliance’s strength,” Shah said. “We will win more seats in Bihar in the 2019 elections than we had won in 2014.”
The announcement came a few days after the Lok Janshakti Party demanded more seats and set a deadline of December 31 for the BJP to decide on the seat-sharing deal. Another constituent of the alliance in Bihar, Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, had left the NDA earlier this month and joined the Opposition coalition in the state.
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