Union Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday said he was ‘displeased’ with his party being given only six seats in the Bihar Assembly elections, but asserted that he would not oppose the decision of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Speaking to news agency ANI, Manjhi also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he would continue to work to strengthen the ruling coalition at the Center and Bihar. He also said that the NDA, which also includes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United (JD-U), will return to power in Bihar.
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Former Chief Minister of Bihar Manjhi said that we thank Prime Minister Modi for this. Good work is being done in Bihar. We are with the leadership on seat sharing and support this decision. We will work to strengthen NDA. NDA is going to form its government in Bihar. He further said that we had demanded 15 seats, but we were given only six seats. We are angry, but will not oppose the NDA’s decision. Whatever we have got, we will move forward with it and for this we thank Prime Minister Modi.
According to the seat sharing formula prepared by the ruling coalition on Sunday, six seats were allotted to WE (Secular). Along with Manjhi’s party, Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) was also given six seats. Meanwhile, BJP and JD-U will contest on 101 seats each, making it clear that there will be no ‘big brother’ in the state. However, Union Minister Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) seems to be gaining the most in the seat sharing, as it has been given 29 seats.
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Reportedly, Paswan’s party had demanded between 40 to 50 seats citing its performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where it had won all the five seats it contested. Voting for Bihar Assembly elections will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. Counting of votes will take place on November 14.