Silence on seats keeps Bihar NDA guessing

Amid growing demands from smaller NDA partners for a "respectable" number of seats in Bihar, top BJP and JDU sources told ET that no discussion has yet taken place on seat distribution.

Speculation is rife, with multiple permutations and combinations being floated by parties and leaders. LJP (RV) leader Arun Bharti has been posting regularly on X, pressing for a fair share. HAM(S) chief and Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has also conveyed that his party needs a minimum number of seats to secure recognition at the state level.

The leading partners, BJP and JDU, however, appear in no hurry. On Thursday, when Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar met Union home minister Amit Shah in Patna, speculation swirled again that seat-sharing talks had begun, prompting smaller allies to reiterate their demands.


But sources told ET that such discussions are unlikely before the election schedule is announced. "It is premature to discuss numbers before all NDA partners sit together and finalise the seat-sharing," one leader said.

The silence of the two dominant players - BJP and JDU - has left smaller parties increasingly restless, with calls for an NDA meeting on seat distribution growing louder.