The BJP-JDU dynamic has modified in the final 5 years with an ageing Nitish Kumar’s alliance flip-flops eroding public belief. (X/@Jduonline/File)
Lok Sabha elections 2024: The BJP is contesting on 17 seats and the JD-U on 16. It’s a distinction of only one seat between the blow-hot-blow-cold allies. But it’s sufficient to convey who is asking the pictures in Bihar. In the 2019 elections, each BJP and JD-U events had contested on 17 seats apiece
The seat-sharing formulation amongst NDA constituents for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections has made one factor painfully clear – Nitish Kumar’s JD-U is not the huge brother in the jap state.
As per the seat-sharing pact introduced by BJP nationwide normal secretary Vinod Tawde on Monday, the saffron get together would contest on 17 seats, the JD-U on 16, and Chirag Paswan’s LJP (Ram Vilas) will contest on 5. Two different NDA allies — Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Morcha — will contest one seat every. Bihar sends a complete of 40 MPs to the Lok Sabha.
Lok Sabha elections in Bihar might be held in seven phases. Four seats will go to the polls on April 19, 5 every on April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20, and eight every on May 25 and June 1. The counting of votes might be held on June 4, 2024.
Change in Pecking Order
It’s a distinction of only one seat between the BJP and the JD-U. And it’s sufficient to convey who is asking the pictures in Bihar. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, each events had contested on 17 seats apiece. Even in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, Nitish Kumar had managed to take care of the tilt in the direction of his get together, contesting on 115 seats and leaving 110 for the BJP.
However, the dynamic has modified in the final 5 years with an ageing Nitish Kumar’s alliance flip-flops eroding public belief.
The seat-sharing particulars had been introduced at the BJP’s Delhi headquarters, with Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on the stage. The BJP younger gun had feverishly upped the ante in opposition to Nitish Kumar throughout his alliance with the RJD.
Chirag’s Big Comeback With Hajipur
Another key takeaway has been Chirag Paswan’s huge comeback with the Hajipur seat, which had been the bone of competition between him and his uncle Pashupati Paras. The two break up the LJP — a celebration based by Ram Vilas Paswan and fought on six seats every in the 2019 elections.
Following Paswan Senior’s loss of life in 2020, Bihar NDA was all about 4 events — BJP, JD-U, HAM and Vikassheel Insaan Party. Chirag Paswan’s LJP was pressured to exit after his steady assaults on Nitish Kumar.
Much appears to have modified ever since in one NDA assembly in July 2023 the place Chirag Paswan was invited and was given a heat hug by PM Narendra Modi.
Paswan Junior is just not solely again, however is again with a bang by successful the status battle in opposition to his uncle, who’s sitting MP from Hajipur. Chirag, too, needed the seat because it was as soon as held by his father Ram Vilas Paswan.
End of the Road for Minister-Uncle?
Pashupati Paras, Chirag’s uncle and in addition the President of the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP), has been omitted in the chilly. Though he’s nonetheless the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries, with no seats allotted in the alliance, he stares at an unsure future.
BJP sources say two proposals have been made to Paras — both settle for a Rajya Sabha seat or exit politics for good and be elevated to a Governor’s submit. It is just not recognized but whether or not Paras has made his alternative.
“Talks are going on,” stated Deputy CM Samrat Chowdhury when requested about Paras’s future in the alliance.
