NDA allies in Bihar strike deal on seats
Patna: While Rashtriya Janata Dal-led grand alli-ance is yet to finalise the seat-sharing formula, the three NDA constituents in Bihar — BJP, JD(U) and LJP — on Sunday announced the names of candidates for the 40 Lok Sabha constituencies for the coming general elections.
The announcement was made jointly by all National Democratic Alli-ance (NDA) partners at the JD(U) office in Patna.
According to JD(U) state president Basisth Narayan Singh, “Seat-sharing a-mong all NDA partners has been done without any trouble and the names of candidates will be announced soon”.
As per an agreement, the JD(U) has been given most of the Seemanchal region seats where Muslims have a maximum representation. Sources said the BJP which does not have much stake in the region agreed to give most of the Seemanchal seats to the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) due to his secular image among the minorities in Bihar.
Lok Sabha constituencies where the JD(U) would be fielding candidates include Valmiki Nagar, Sitamarhi, Jhanj-harpur, Supaul, Kishan-ganj, Katihar, Purnea, Madhepura, Gopalganj, Si-wan, Bhagalpur, Banka, Munger, Nalanda, Kar-akat, Jehanabad and Gaya.
The 17 seats allotted to BJP are West Champaran, East Champaran, Sheohar, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Saran, Ujia-rpur, Begusarai, Patna Sahib, Patliputra, Arrah, Buxar, Sasaram, Aurang-abad, Araria and Mahar-ajganj. The LJP would contest from Vaishali, Hajipur, Samastipur, Khagaria, Jamui and Nawada.