Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday chaired an important strategy meeting with senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from Bihar ahead of the upcoming state assembly elections. The closed-door discussions were attended by Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha, BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde, and several other state functionaries.

The meeting comes at a time when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is yet to finalise its seat-sharing formula. The coalition in Bihar includes the BJP, Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM).

One of the biggest challenges for the NDA is accommodating demands from allies. Chirag Paswan’s LJP (Ram Vilas), which contested against the JD-U in 2020, is now firmly part of the alliance. However, the party has reportedly demanded around 40 seats this time — a number unlikely to be accepted by other partners.

Similarly, Jitan Ram Manjhi has also pushed for a larger role. Earlier this year, he declared that the HAM (Secular) would field candidates on 35–40 constituencies and confidently predicted, “We will have at least 20 MLAs in the 243-member Assembly.”

Meanwhile, the JD-U, which faced a dip in its vote share to 15.39% in the last elections, is keen to contest on no fewer than 100 seats. The RLM too is eyeing a respectable share, adding another layer of complexity to the negotiations.

In the 2020 Bihar elections, the BJP contested 110 seats and won 74, while the JD-U fielded candidates in 115 constituencies, securing 43 victories. Chirag Paswan’s LJP, though bagging just one seat, is believed to have damaged the JD-U’s prospects in nearly 30 constituencies by fielding candidates against it. The HAM (Secular) contested on seven seats and won four, while the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), also part of the NDA then, contested 11 and bagged four.