NDA Aligns Seat-Sharing Smartly

Grand Alliance Still in a Dilemma

- Satish Mehra

Bihar’s political landscape is once again at a critical juncture.

With assembly elections approaching, all political parties are actively strengthening their respective camps. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has almost finalized its seat-sharing strategy and brought clarity to its electoral roadmap. As per the current agreement within the NDA, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) have been allotted 101 seats each. In addition, BJP has allocated 29 seats to Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), and 6 seats each to Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha.

Given this structure, if the NDA secures a majority in the Bihar Assembly election, it would be fair to say that the next Chief Minister is highly likely to be from the BJP. The BJP has not only maintained parity with the JD(U) but has also ensured respectable representation for smaller allies, who are expected to play a key role in supporting a BJP-led government post-elections.

Chirag Paswan, who often refers to himself as “Modi’s Hanuman,” has received a significant chunk of seats, signaling BJP's trust in his appeal among youth and Dalit voters. Similarly, Manjhi and Kushwaha have also received decent seat allocations, and all these allies have declared that they will back BJP’s claim to the Chief Minister’s post after the elections. On the other hand, the opposition Grand Alliance is still grappling with internal uncertainties. One of the primary reasons behind this indecision is the serious legal charges against the top leadership of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which is significantly impacting the seat-sharing talks within the alliance.