Bihar NDA seat-sharing: BJP, JDU 101 each, LJP 29, HAM, RL Morcha 6

The ruling National Democratic Alliance on Sunday announced a seatsharing arrangement for the Bihar Assembly elections that will see the Bharatiya Janata Party and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United contest 101 seats each, with the Chirag Paswan led Lok Janshakti Party allotted 29 seats and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha and Hindustani Awam Morcha given six seats apiece. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who announced the distribution, said leaders and workers of all NDA partners welcomed the arrangement. Polling is set in two phases on November 6 and November 11, with counting on November 14.

The allocation marks the first time the BJP and JDU will contest an equal number of seats in a Bihar assembly election, a shift political observers see as reflecting the BJP's strengthened bargaining position within the alliance. The larger-than-expected share for the LJP came after days of intensive negotiations between the BJP and its smaller partners, with BJP negotiators preparing candidate panels and holding central-level meetings to finalise nominations.

Seat negotiations were not without friction. In the run up to the announcement, LJP leaders convened emergency meetings and...