The National Democratic Alliance in Bihar on Sunday announced seat sharing in the state for the Lok sabha elections. Janata Dal (United) Bihar President Vashisht Narain Singh announced the list of constituencies his party, as well as allies Bharatiya Janata Party and the Lok Janshakti Party will contest in the state.
In December, the BJP and the Janata Dal (United), which are allies in the ruling coalition in Bihar, decided to contest the Lok Sabha polls in 17 constituencies each. The Lok Janshakti Party was allocated six seats, making up the total of 40 Lok Sabha seats from the state. The Lok Janshakti Party will also be given a Rajya Sabha berth and Ram Vilas Paswan is likely to be its candidate, BJP President Amit Shah had announced.
Singh said the Janata Dal (United) will contest from Valmiki Nagar, Sitamarhi, Jhanjharpur, Siwan, Bhagalpur, Kishanganj, Supaul, Katihar, Munger, Jehanabad, Nalanda, Katihar, Gopalganj, Madhepura, Banka, Gaya and Karakat constituencies, ANI reported. On the other hand, the Lok Janshakti Party’s candidates will be on the ballot in the Vaishali, Hajipur, Samastipur, Khagaria, Nawada and Jamui constituencies.
Singh said the Bharatiya Janata Party will contest from the Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Begusarai, Patna Sahib, Patliputra, Madhubani, Araria, East Champaran, West Champaran, Sasaram, Saran, Arrah, Buxar, Aurangabad, Sheohar, Ujiarpur and Maharajganj seats.
The joint press conference was held at the JD(U) office in Patna in the presence of the three NDA partners, represented by Bihar BJP President Nityanand Rai, state JD(U) chief Bashistha Narayan Singh and LJP President Pashupati Kumar Paras, PTI reported.
The grand alliance in the state, comprising the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, Hindustani Awam Morcha, Loktantrik Janata Dal and Vikasshil Insan Party is yet to make an announcement of seat-sharing among its partners. Former chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha President Jitan Ram Manjhi on Friday said the seat-sharing will be announced on Monday.
Unrest in Bihar BJP
The loss of the Valmiki Nagar seat has caused unrest within the Bihar BJP, the Hindustan Times reported on Sunday. Several party functionaries from its West Champaran district unit resigned on Saturday ahead of the allocation of constituencies.
“As many as 15 mandal presidents, two district office-bearers and IT cell coordinator, besides the president of Kisan Morcha, have resigned from their posts,” BJP West Champaran chief Ganga Prasad Pandey said. “We are going to forward the resignations to the state headquarters.”
The BJP had won the Valmiki Nagar seat in 2014. Its legislator, Satish Chandra Dubey, claimed the resignations were a “momentary emotional outburst”. He said he will not resign from the party.
The 2019 General Elections will be held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19, with the results declared on May 23.
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