LS Polls’ 19: BJP and allies likely to announce seat-sharing anytime soon

The BJP and its Bihar ally Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) have finalised the seat-sharing arrangement for the 2019 Lok Sabha Polls and are likely to announce it any time soon.

Sources have told that LJP could now contest 5 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, 1 in Uttar Pradesh. Also, LJP President Ram Vilas Paswan is reportedly offered a seat in the Rajya Sabha.

The announcement regarding the seat-sharing within NDA would be made jointly by  BJP,
JD(U) and LJP.

NDA would be competing against ‘Mahagathbandhan’ of RJD, Congress and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and the recent addition, Upendra Kushwaha-led RLSP.

After his meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over the seat sharing, Chirag Paswan told media that he is confident of a positive outcome.

The differences between Paswans and BJP gained limelight when Chirag Paswan became vocal about it and told the media that there were talks regarding the sharing of seats and other issues.

BJP President Amit Shah, along with Arun Jaitley and other top leaders held an hour-long meeting with LJP President Ram Vilas Paswan and his son on Thursday to resolve the growing difference between the allies.

Bihar gives 40 MPs to the Lok Sabha. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, LJP was allocated 7 seats by the NDA. Out of the seven, it won six. This time the party demands that it would not fight on fewer seats than last time.