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Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United and the BJP have decided to go for an almost 50:50 formula with the JDU getting 122 seats and the saffron party landing up with the remaining 121, TOI quoted sources as saying. The two parties are expected to formally announce their respective candidates today.
"JDU and BJP will give seven seats each from their share to HAM(S) and VIP to contest the polls. This would leave 115 seats for JDU to contest an d114 for BJP. The saffron party has agreed to give a slight edge to Nitish, who leads JD(U) that has more MLAs than BJP in the outgoing house," a source told TOI.
After LJP's decision to go it alone in the upcoming polls, the NDA roped in Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), led by former Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahni who quit the Grand Alliance last week. Popularly known by the sobriquet "Son of Mallah", Sahni had quit the Grand Alliance soon after the seat sharing deal was announced by RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav who did not announce the number of seats that the VIP would contest under the alliance. Claiming support among the fishermen community, the VIP had been a coalition partner of the Grand Alliance since last year's Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), led by former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, was accommodated by JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar two months back.
Earlier on Sunday, the Lok Janshakti Party dropped a shocker announced its decision to leave the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar, saying it cannot accept Kumar's leadership. LJP chief Chirag Paswan asserted that his party's likely share of seats if it had continued in the NDA had no role in this decision which, he said, was solely driven the fact that his "Bihar first, Bihari first" vision document was not incorporated by Kumar in his future governance agenda.
Voting for 243 assembly constituencies in the state will be held in three phases -- October 28 (71 seats), November 3 (94 seats) and November 7 (78 seats). The counting of votes will take place on November 10.
