Patna: Ahead of the Bihar assembly elections, NDA ally Hindustani Awam Morcha's chief and union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has said that if his party is not given at least 15 seats to contest, it won't fight the polls at all. The former Chief Minister, however, has made it clear that it would back the NDA camp. BJP national president JP Nadda has reportedly spoken to Manjhi in regards to the matter.
"We are requesting NDA leaders because we feel humiliated. We need a respectable number of seats so that we get recognition as a party. If we do not get the proposed number of seats, we will not contest the polls. We will support NDA, but we won't contest the polls. I don't want to become the Chief Minister. I just want our party to be recognised," he said.
Previously, the party fought on 7 seats and won 4 seats in the 2020 assembly polls.
The NDA allies are yet to announce their seat-sharing formula for the polls scheduled fot next month. Reportedly, Nitish Kumar's JDU and BJP may contest about 100 seats each out of the 243 seats. Chirag Paswan's LJP (Ram Vilas) may get 24, Manjhi's party 10 and Upendra Kushwaha's party may be allotted about six. Reportedly, Chirag Paswan is not happy with this number allotted to him and has been pushing for at least 40 seats.
The Election Commission on Monday announced the dates for Bihar Assembly elections. The 243 constituencies will go to the polls in two phases on November 6 and 11, with counting scheduled for November 14. By-elections to eight constituencies across seven states will also be held.
