Patna, Oct 14 (UNI) BJP today released its first list of 71 candidates for the Bihar Assembly elections before the final announcement on seat allotment details among constituents of the ruling NDA, even as the opposition Grand Alliance seemed to be still struggling to zero in on a seat-sharing formula among its various partners.
Despite the announcement on seat sharing among constituents of the NDA two days back, the grouping has so far not been able to jointly announce the details of specific seats to be contested by each of the partners. The alliance was set to release the details of seats in a joint press conference last evening, but it was deferred due to apparent differences among the constituents on a few seats.
Even today, JD(U) working president Sanjay Jha told media persons that details of seat sharing among the NDA constituents would be announced by the evening, but no such declaration was made.
However, within hours of Jha’s statement, the BJP released its first list on its X account without holding any press conference. Similarly, JD(U) also allotted symbols to some of its candidates even before formally releasing any list of candidates.
Bihar energy minister Bijender Prasad Yadav and former MLA Anant Singh were among the prominent JD(U) candidates who filed their nomination papers after getting symbols.
Jha, earlier during the day, dismissed reports that appeared in a section of the media that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was not happy with the seat sharing among NDA constituents. “Nitish Kumar is completely satisfied and has no reservation over seat sharing,” he claimed.
“Kumar had talked to top leaders of the BJP on phone and discussed issues related to a few seats”, the JD(U) leader said. According to him, Kumar was keeping close watch on various aspects of seat sharing and other issues.
Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary had also claimed that seat sharing would be finalised and announced before media persons, but it was released on the party’s X account,
In its first list, the BJP denied tickets to its 12 sitting MLAs, including Bihar Assembly Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav. He had won the assembly elections seven times in succession from Patna Sahib, which was earlier known as Patna East Assembly seat. Yadav, however, happily accepted the decision of party high command, saying he had no reservations about being denied ticket.
Another NDA partner, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM)-Secular, also released the list of its six candidates for seats allotted to the party.
As per Samrat Chowdhury’s social media post on Sunday, BJP and JD(U) will contest 101 seats each, while LJP (Ram Vilas) will pit candidates in 29 seats. HAM and RLM have been allotted six seats each for the 243-member state Assembly.
On the other hand, the Grand Alliance was seemingly still struggling to finalise its seat sharing. RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said the seat sharing among constituents of the Grand Alliance would be finalised within a day or two. RJD also withdrew the symbols given to some candidates even before finalising seat sharing.
Workers of GA constituent parties are seemingly getting impatient over the delay in seat sharing. CPI leader Ram Naresh Pandey said that seat sharing should be finalised and announced as soon as possible.
Jan Suraaj leader Prashant Kishor has already released the list of his party’s116 candidates in two phases. List of other candidates would be released soon as his party is contesting all 243 seats in the Bihar assembly elections, he stated.
