NDA will contest Bihar elections under the leadership of Nitish Kumar

Amid preparations for the Bihar Assembly elections 2025, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has almost finalised the seat-sharing formula among its constituent parties. Sources say that BJP can contest on 100-102 seats while JDU can contest on 102-103 seats. Also, smaller parties will also be taken care of in seat sharing.

According to sources, an agreement has been reached on seat sharing between Janata Dal United (JDU) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but the formal announcement will be made only after the Election Commission announces the dates of Bihar Assembly elections. It is believed that the Election Commission may announce the assembly elections in the end of September or the first week of October.

Will JDU play the role of elder brother?:

According to sources, out of 243 assembly seats in Bihar, JDU can contest on 102-103 seats and BJP on 100-102 seats. This arrangement has been made to give JDU the role of elder brother in the alliance, so that the Chief Minister can be elected.

At the same time, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan has demanded more than 40 seats, but JDU is not in favor of giving him more than 20 seats.

Small parties will be taken care of:

Sources said that Chirag Paswan's demand for seats is motivated by political compulsion to keep his supporters' morale high. However, given his importance in the alliance, his sentiments will be taken into consideration and he is likely to get 25-28 seats.

Apart from this, 6-7 seats can be given to Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and 4-5 seats can be given to Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM).

Apart from this, in the 2020 assembly elections, Chirag Paswan broke away from the NDA and contested on 134 seats, but his party could win only one seat. During this, his strategy caused damage to JDU on more than 30 seats. This time Chirag Paswan is a part of the NDA and the performance of five MPs of his party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections has strengthened his position.

Election will be fought under the leadership of Nitish:

According to sources, the NDA has made it clear that the Bihar assembly elections will be fought under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. If the NDA wins the election, Nitish Kumar will decide the future strategy. Sources said that some concerns are being expressed about Nitish Kumar's health, but he himself will take the final decision in this regard.

India Block also started preparations:

On the other hand, the opposition Mahagathbandhan (which includes Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and Left parties) has also intensified its preparations. Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav's 'Voter Rights Yatra' has started a public awareness campaign against the alleged irregularities in the voter list and Special Intensive Revision (SIR).