Union Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) supremo Jitan Ram Manjhi said on Monday that he was 'upset' after his party was allocated just six seats for the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar, but stressed that he won't oppose the decision of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Speaking to news agency ANI, Manjhi also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating that he would continue working to strengthen the ruling alliance at the Centre and in 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.
"We thank PM Modi for this. Good work is being done in Bihar. On seat-sharing, we stand with the leadership and we support this decision. We will work to strengthen the NDA. NDA is going to form its government in Bihar," Manjhi, a former Bihar CM, said. "We demanded 15 seats but we were given only six seats. We are upset, but we will not oppose the NDA's decision. We will move forward with whatever we have got, and we thank PM Modi for this."
HAM gets 6 seats as NDA chalks out seat-sharing plan
The HAM (Secular) was allocated six seats according to the seat-sharing formula that formulated by the ruling alliance on Sunday. Along with Manjhi's party, the Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) was also given six seats. Meanwhile, the BJP and the JD-U will contest on 101 seats each, highlighting that there will be no 'big brother' in the state.
However, Union Minister Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) seems to be the biggest gainer of the seat-sharing allotment after it was given 29 seats. Reportedly, Paswan's party had demanded somewhere between 40 and 50 seats, citing its performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections where it won all five seats on which it contested.
Bihar election schedule
The polling for the two-phase Bihar assembly elections will take place on November 6 and 11. The counting of votes will take place on November 14.
