Bihar Assembly elections: BJP, JD(U) to contest 101 seats each
What's the story
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has finalized its seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)] will contest an equal number of seats, 101 each, in the 243-member House. The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), led by Union Minister Chirag Paswan, will field candidates on 29 seats.
Seat distribution
HAM, RLM to get 6 seats each
The Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), led by Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, and Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Morcha will contest six seats each. The announcement on the finalization of seat sharing was made by Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on the social media platform X. He said that the seat-sharing exercise was done in a "cordial manner" with all NDA partners expressing satisfaction with the outcome.
Twitter Post
Pradhan's announcement of seat sharing
हम एनडीए के साथियों ने सौहार्दपूर्ण वातावरण में सीटों का वितरण पूर्ण किया।
— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) October 12, 2025
BJP – 101
JDU – 101
LJP (R) – 29
RLM – 06
HAM – 06
एनडीए के सभी दलों के कार्यकर्ता और नेता इसका हर्षपूर्वक स्वागत करते हैं।
बिहार है तैयार,
फिर से एनडीए सरकार।#NDA4Bihar ✌️
Power dynamics
Shift in power dynamics
The seat-sharing formula marks a change in the power dynamics of the alliance and came after a prolonged round of negotiations involving the BJP leadership and its smaller allies. In the 2020 Assembly elections, JD(U) contested 115 seats while BJP contested 110 seats. LJP had contested the elections independently. This is the first time JD(U) will contest an equal number of seats as the BJP.
Opposition preparations
Opposition alliance close to finalizing seat-sharing
Meanwhile, the opposition 'Mahagathbandhan' alliance is also close to finalizing its seat-sharing arrangement. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said they expect all seats to be finalized "in the next two-three days." "In the next two-three days, we expect all the seats to be finalized and declared," he said on the delay in the seat-sharing announcement. The Bihar Assembly elections will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11.