Tejashwi Yadav at a press conference on Saturday. (Twitter / ANI)
The seat-sharing exercise gained momentum after Supreme RJD Lalu Prasad’s emissary, Bhola Yadav, returned to Patna from Ranchi on Thursday.
- News18.com New Delhi
- Last update: October 3, 2020 6:36 PM IST
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The opposition Grand Alliance of Bihar announced on Saturday that it reached an agreement to share seats for the next elections to the assembly in the state and the leader of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Tejashwi Yadav, will be its main ministerial candidate. The announcement was made at a press conference in the presence of coalition leaders.
The RJD, which heads the opposition coalition, will contest 144 seats in the 243-member assembly. Congress has been offered 70 seats, in addition to contesting the partial vote for the Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha seat, while the CPI- (M) and CPI have been awarded four and six seats, respectively. CPI-ML will compete in 19 seats. RJD said it would accommodate Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahni’s Vikasheel Insan Party (VIP) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) in its 144-seat quota.
However, after the press conference, VIP President Mukesh Sahni announced that he would resign from the grand alliance as he did not receive “a respectable offer”.
The announcement on the agreement to share seats for the next elections to the assembly comes after days of deliberations. In particular, the seat-sharing exercise gained momentum after Supreme RJD Lalu Prasad’s emissary Bhola Yadav returned to Patna from Ranchi on Thursday with his message on the distribution of seats among different partners, they said.
“The seating arrangements have been finalized and an announcement is very likely to be made tonight,” RJD spokesman Mrityunjay Tiwari told PTI on Saturday. The RJD, Congress, the left-wing CPI-ML, CPI and CPI (M) parties and the ruling Jharkhand party JMM are fighting together against the Bihar elections scheduled for October-November.
The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is also expected to announce a seat-sharing agreement for the Bihar assembly elections soon. In what may be a setback, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) is likely to compete for 143 seats outside of the NDA alliance under the slogan “Modi se bair nahi, Nitish teri khair nahi” or “No enmity with Modi, but no The president of CM and JD (U), Nitish Kumar will forgive ”.
However, the LJP said it would not abandon the alliance as the party is in alliance with the NDA at the national level. The LJP is said to act as BJP’s representative in the alliance.
Voting for the Bihar assembly elections will take place in three phases: the first on October 28, the second on November 3 and the third on November 7, while the counting of all votes will take place held on November 10.
Elections in the state are held at a time when India records one of the highest cases on a daily basis. However, in view of the Covid-19 situation, the electoral commission increased the voting hours from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. instead of the usual 5 p.m. it is being done to avoid crowds and maintain social distancing in the voting process. There will be various arrangements for voters, including 7 lakh for disinfectants, 46 lakh for masks, 6 lakh for PPE kits, 7.6 lakh for face shield units and 23 lakh for hand gloves, the electoral body said.
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