17/17/5/1: INDIA appears to seal Bihar seat share pact

Bihar's four-party ruling coalition is close to sealing a seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, three leaders aware of developments said on Friday, making it the potentially the first state where members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) are on the verge of resolving an issue that can prove thorny across India.

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Of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats, 17 each are likely to be allotted to the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the two big players in the coalition. The Congress is likely to get five seats and the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) Liberation is likely to fight one seat, said the leaders quoted above.

"The 17:17:5:1 ratio of seat allotments is the cardinal formula, which has been worked out. Further talks on candidates and other issues are being worked out," said a senior RJD leader, adding that the seat arrangement was almost final.

The final announcement I could be made by the end of January, said a senior RJD leader, who didn't wish to be named.

A second senior leader of the Grand Alliance said the formula was worked out in the Mukul Wasnik-led national alliance committee (NAC) of the Congress after discussion with leaders from the JD (U) and RJD on Thursday.

Bihar Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh said that a proposal on seat-sharing was discussed before the committee.

A Congress leader aware of the development said the RJD would take the lead in allocating seats to the Congress and the Left, by getting 23 seats in its quota, and leaving 17 for the JD(U).