Bihar BJP President Dilip Jaiswal with former Congress MLA Siddharth Saurav, ex RJD MLA Sangeeta Kumari and former JDU MP Sunil Kumar Pintu as they join the party in in Patna on Monday
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The BJP’s first list of candidates for the Bihar Assembly Polls 2025 is expected to be released soon.
While the nominations for the first phase of the elections started on October 10, the BJP and its NDA allies are yet to announce names.
The party’s Central Election Committee met with prime minister Narendra Modi. Sources in the BJP said that the ticket announcement is stuck as there is disagreement over some of the seats.
On Sunday, the NDA announced that the JD(U) and the BJP will contest on 101 seats each, leaving 29 seats for Chirag Paswan and six each for Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha. Both Kushwaha and Manjhi have expressed their displeasure over the larger share to Chirag.
Manjhi, who had earlier said that his party will not contest if they are not given 15, eventually agreed but not happily. BJP sources said that PM Modi had called him to convince him.
He later told reporters that he will accept the seats. “What the high command has decided, we have accepted. But by giving us just six seats, they have underestimated us. It may cost the NDA in the elections,” Manjhi said.
Kushwaha, too, wasn’t very happy. He sent out a post to his workers late after the seat distribution. “Dear friends/colleagues, I seek your forgiveness. The number of seats we got is not as per your expectations. I understand that this decision will hurt those colleagues who aspired to be candidates of our party,” he wrote.
“Today, in many homes, food might not have been cooked. However, I am sure you all understand the constraints and limitations of both me and the party. I humbly request you to let the anger subside, and then you will yourself realise how appropriate or or inappropriate the decision is. Time will tell the rest,” he added.
In 2020, Kushwaha’s party did not contest as part of the NDA, and fought on 99 seats, winning no seat. Manjhi’s HAM had contested on 7 seats as part of NDA, winning 4. On the other hand, Chirag’s Lok Janshakti Party, which had not yet split, did not contest as part of the NDA, and fought on 135 seats. They won only 1.
The JDU, too, is unhappy with some of its seats going to Chirag Paswan as per sources. A big chunk of the extra seats given to Chirag has come from the JDU’s kitty, which had contested 115 seats in 2020.