The Lok Sabha election dates have been announced and the BJP-led NDA and Congress-led INDIA bloc have almost finalized their seat-sharing deal in most of the states but what used to appear a done deal for both the parties, has turned into a headache for them. Bihar, which mostly saw smooth seat-sharing deals, has turned a thorn in the throat of the political parties with smaller allies showing tantrums. While the BJP is struggling to get Pashupati Paras onboard, the Congress-RJD are finding it tough to keep CPI-ML in its flock.
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Trouble For Congress-RJD
The CPI-ML, one of the constituents of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, has released a statement in which it expressed concern over the delay in seat-sharing and urged to announce the seat allocation as soon as possible. Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats of which the RJD reportedly wants to contest 28 seats, Congress on 9 leaving two seats for the CPIML and one for the CPI. However, the CPI-ML announced to contest 8 seats leading to no consensus among the Mahagathbandhan.
NDA Faces ‘Paras’ Challenge
The NDA, which cleanly swept the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Bihar winning all 40 seats is also reportedly finding it difficult to reach a seat-sharing deal especially due to the split in the LJP. As per the latest seat-sharing discussion, the BJP wants to contest on 17 seats, giving 15 to the JDU, 4 to Chirag Paswan’s LJP-Ram Vilas, and one each to Pashupati Paras-led RLJP, Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and Upendra Kushwaha’s RLM. However, as per reports, Kushwaha and Pashupati Paras are unhappy with the one-seat offer. Paras has even openly threatened that all doors are open for him.
Lok Sabha Elections In Bihar
In Bihar, the Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases starting April 19. On April 19, only four seats will go to the polls. These are Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada and Jamui. On April 26, five seats – Kishanganj, Katihar, Prunia, Bhagalpur and Banka will go to the polls. On May 7, another five seats will go to the polls – Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Araria, Madhepura and Khagaria. Details of voting on other seats are as follows:
May 13: Darbhanga, Ujiarpur, Samastipur, Begusarai, Munger
May 20: Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saran and Hajipur
May 25: Valmiki Nagar, Paschim Champaran, Purvi Champaran, Sheohar, Vaishali, Gopalganj, Siwan, Maharajganj
June 1: Nalanda, Patna Sahib, Pataliputra, Arrah, Buxar, Sasaram, Karakat, Jahanabad
The counting of votes will take place on June 4.
