The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Monday announced the five-party coalition’s seat-sharing arrangement in the electorally crucial state of Bihar, whose 40 Lok Sabha seats will go to the polls in seven phases beginning April 19.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will fight 17 seats, the same as 2019, and its principal ally, the Janata Dal (United) will fight in 16, one lower than 2019. It is for the first time that the BJP would be contesting more seats than the JD(U).

The Chirag Paswan faction of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) will fight five seats, including Hajipur, where Chirag’s estranged uncle and Union minister Pashupati Paras is the sitting MP. This means that the alliance has chosen iconic Dalit leader Ramvilas Paswan’s son Chirag over his brother Paras who rebelled in 2021 and formed his own party.

Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) and Jitan Ram Majhi’s Hindustan Awam Morcha (Secular) will fight one seat each.

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BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde, who is also the party’s in-charge of Bihar, said NDA allies sorted out the seat distribution in 48-hours. “Although the parties in the NDA will fight on their respective symbols, we are fighting together…and all the parties will fight with all their might,” Tawde said.

In 2019, the NDA swept Bihar, winning 39 out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP won all 17 it contested, the JD(U) 16, the LJP six.

On Monday, BJP leaders were joined by JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Jha, for the seat-sharing announcement.

According to the seat-sharing arrangement, the JD(U) will contest from Valmikinagar, Sitamarhi, Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, Madhepura, Gopalganj, Siwan, Bhagalpur, Banka, Munger, Nalanda, Jehanabad and Sheohar. Two seats JD(U) contested in 2019 – Gaya and Karakat – went to HAM-S and RLSP, respectively. In 2019, both the smaller parties were with the Opposition’s Grand Alliance.

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In return, the JD(U) managed to get the Sheohar Lok Sabha seat, which was represented by BJP’s Rama Devi in 2019. The JD(U) is likely to field Lovely Anand, wife of former MP Anand Mohan who was released from jail last year after serving 15 years of imprisonment in a murder case, said senior party leaders aware of the details.

Lovely Anand, a former Lok Sabha MP from Bihar’s Vaishali, joined the JD(U) on Monday. Lovely Anand’s son, Chetan Anand, is a Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA but voted for the NDA during Nitish Kumar’s trust vote on February 12.

In exchange for Sheohar, the BJP will be contesting from Nawada, a seat won in 2019 by LJP candidate Chandan Singh, who switched over to the Paras faction in 2021. The other seats BJP will contest from are West Champaran, East Champaran, Aurangabad, Madhubani, Araria, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Maharajganj, Saran, Ujiarpur, Begusarai, Patna Sahib, Patiliputra, Ara, Buxar and Sasaram.

The LJP retained its bastion of Hajipur, Vaishali, Samastipur, Khagaria and Jamui. Chirag Paswan is likely to be the contestant from Hajipur, a seat that his uncle Pashupati Paras was coveting.

Bihar deputy chief minister and BJP leader, Samrat Chaudhary, said talks are on with Paras to placate him. “Talks with Paras are still on,” said Chaudhary.

“I would like to thank PM Modi for the way he kept the respect of our party,” said Chirag Paswan.

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The JD(U) also expressed satisfaction on seat-sharing. “The seat-sharing was finalised amicably. When we contested in 2019, all seats barring one or two were won by us by over 200,000 margin. The way development has taken place in Bihar, we will repeat the performance,” said JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Jha.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a BJP functionary said: “While the BJP won all the seats it contested in 2019, we will redouble efforts to ensure there is no room for loss of even one seat.”