PATNA: National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders in Bihar on Sunday announced seat-sharing details between the Janata Dal (United), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) for 40 seats in the state for upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2019.
The announcement was made at a press conference by senior JD(U) leader Bashistha Narain Singh at the party’s office in Patna. It may be recalled that JD(U), BJP and LJP had finalised the seat-sharing arrangement for Lok Sabha polls in December last year. BJP President Amit Shah had announced that BJP and JD(U) will contest on 17 seats each, while Ram Vilas Paswan-led LJP will field candidates on the remaining six.
As per Sunday’s announcement, BJP will field its candidates from Patna Sahib, Patliputra, Ara, Buxar, Saran, Maharajganj, Purvi Champaran, Paschim Champaran, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Begusarai, Ujiarpur, Madhubani, Sasaram, Araria, Sheohar and Aurangabad.
Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) will contest from Nalanda, Munger, Bhagalpur, Karakat, Gaya, Jahanabad, Purnia, Banka, Kishanganj, Supaul, Katihar, Valmiki Nagar, Siwan, Gopalganj, Jhanjharpur, Sitamarhi and Madhepura.
The six seats which went to LJP are Hajipur, Vaishali, Samastipur, Nawada, Khagariya and Jamui.
It is interesting to note that Nawada seat was won by BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh in 2014 polls and it is likely that the party will now ask Singh to contest from Begusarai. On the other hand, senior BJP leader and party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain had contested unsuccessfully from Bhagalpur in last Lok Sabha poll and this seems to the main reason why party has decided to give the seat to JD(U) this time. Sources said that Hussain may not contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha poll and the party may give him some senior organisational position.
On Saturday, it was reported that the BJP had already shortlisted Bihar party candidates for the Lok Sabha election. Out of the total 17 constituencies, the candidates for 14 seats have been confirmed while three seats have the names of two candidates.
It is expected that Ram Kripal Yadav will contest from the Pataliputra seat and former union minister Rajiv Pratap Ruddy will contest from the Chapra. Sanjay Jaiswal is expected to get party ticket from the Bettiah seat, while Radha Mohan Singh will be BJP’s candite from the Motihari seat, RK Singh from Arrah constituency, Ashwini Kumar Chaubey from the Buxar seat, Rama Devi from the Shivhar constituency, Ajay Nishad from the Muzaffarpur seat, Nityanand Rai from the Ujiarpur constituency, Putul Devi from the Banka seat, Janardan Prasad Sigriwal from the Maharajganj seat and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) MLA Lalan Paswan from the Sasaram constituency.
The candidates for the three seats of Darbhanga, Madhubani, and Araria are yet to be confirmed
