The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has finalized its seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal-United (JDU) will each contest 101 seats, while the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) led by Chirag Paswan will contest 29 seats. Additionally, the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) and the Hindustani Awam Party (Secular) or HAM(S) will contest six seats each. This marks a reduction for both JDU and BJP compared to the 2020 elections when they contested 115 and 110 seats, respectively.

The Bihar elections will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11, with vote counting scheduled for November 14. Meanwhile, the opposition alliance, the Mahagathbandhan or INDIA bloc, which includes the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress, has yet to announce its seat-sharing plan.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan expressed confidence in the alliance, saying the seat distribution was completed in a “cordial atmosphere” and that the NDA is ready to form the government again in Bihar. The decision followed days of intense discussions and meetings involving senior leaders. On the day of the announcement, Bihar BJP leaders held marathon meetings with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President J.P. Nadda. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also involved in finalizing the candidate list.

A significant breakthrough came when Jitan Ram Manjhi, leader of HAM(S), expressed strong support for Modi, signaling his party’s inclusion in the alliance. HAM(S), which had initially demanded 15 seats, agreed to contest six assembly seats and one MLC seat after negotiations. Similarly, LJP(RV) had sought 40 seats but finally settled on 29. The RLM had threatened to contest alone if its demands were not met but accepted six seats.

Compared to 2020, the seat share for BJP and JDU has decreased, reflecting the allies’ demand for "quality seats." In the last election, JDU and BJP secured 43 and 74 seats respectively, with vote shares of 15.39% and 19.46%. HAM(S) contested seven seats and won four, while RLM ran independently on 99 seats without any victories.

The NDA plans to announce the final list of candidates by October 13. The nomination deadline for the first phase of polls is October 17.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to kick off his Bihar campaign on October 15 with an interactive session with BJP workers under the ‘Mera Booth, Sabse Majboot’ (My booth, the strongest) initiative. Modi expressed enthusiasm about engaging directly with party workers and encouraged them to share their suggestions to ensure a strong showing for the NDA in Bihar.