The seat-sharing calculus of both the ruling alliance and the Opposition camp in Bihar is stuck, due to different variables.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, still smarting from being pushed to the third rung in the Bihar Assembly after the 2020 Assembly polls, is now insisting on simultaneous Assembly elections, according to sources. On the Opposition end, where the exit of Mr. Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) has made the equation more or less straightforward, the negotiations are proceeding slowly, with several events delaying the process.
More claimants
The JD(U), which currently holds 16 of the State’s 40 Lok Sabha seats, has demanded 17 seats, which it had fought in the 2019 polls. The party had made the same demand when it was in the mahagathbandhan with the RJD. But with a greater number of claimants to the seat pie in the ruling NDA — including Upendra Kushwaha’s Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM), Jiten Ram Manjhi’s Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD), and two factions of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), one led by Chirag Paswan and the other by his uncle Pashupati Paras — the equation is complicated.
Sources said that talks have been further delayed with the elections for the Bihar Legislative Council, for which Mr. Kumar filed his nomination on Tuesday for a fourth consecutive term. The voting will take place on March 21, if a vote is forced by either side. “For us, the Lok Sabha seat division is not important. In fact, a large section of the party believes that Assembly elections should be called simultaneously so that we can correct our strength in the Assembly, which was distorted the last time around because of the LJP contesting against us,” a senior JD(U) leader said.
‘Busy with yatra’
In the Opposition camp — where there are fewer claimants — the starting formula is that the RJD, being the senior colleague, will keep 30 out of the State’s 40 seats, and distribute the remaining ten between the Left parties and the Congress. “There is no delay, we all have been busy with the Jan Vishwas Yatra which culminated in a rally at the Gandhi Maidan. The events have overtaken the talks but it will conclude by next week,” a senior RJD leader said.
As per sources, Mukesh Sahani of the Vikassheel Insaan Party has also approached the Opposition coalition. “We are not seeking any more allies, but if someone is to come, our doors are open,” the RJD leader added.
In a bid to take the battle to the voters, the Opposition is planning to organise citizen conventions against the defections that took place during the confidence vote in the Bihar Assembly on March 9 and 10. Meetings are being planned at the Sasaram Lok Sabha constituency, where three Opposition legislators — two MLAs from the RJD and one from the Congress — switched sides, and the Patliputra constituency where one Opposition MLA defected.
