Amid talks in Bihar, list for undisputed seats soon | Economic Times

New Delhi: Seat sharing for the Bihar assembly elections, which initially looked like a two-day exercise, is getting prolonged because of the positions taken by the partners in the ruling and opposition alliances. As discussions are still ongoing, the main political parties are planning to release the names of candidates for seats where there is no dispute with their partners.Filing of nominations for the 71 seats going for voting in the first phase started on Thursday, and the last date is October 8.In the state’s ruling NDA, the discussion among the BJP, Janata Dal (U) and Lok Janshakti Party got an impetus with the involvement of union home minister Amit Shah since Wednesday.BJP insiders told ET there were some hiccups in discussions with both the JD(U) and LJP. While the JD(U) is staking claim to some of the traditional BJP seats, the BJP doesn’t want to leave those. Shah is directly in touch with LJP president Chirag Paswan and BJP leaders hope the matter would be resolved in a day or two. “If we don’t resolve it by this week, only four days are left next week for the first-phase nomination,” a senior BJP leader told ET. “We are considering releasing names on those seats where there is no dispute so that the candidates can prepare for nomination.”The JD(U) camp has a similar plan and those MLAs who are getting tickets are being contacted by phone to start preparing to file their nomination.In the opposition’s Grand Alliance, talks between the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress are stuck. The Congress has prepared a list of 81 candidates and sent it to Delhi for approval. “There is nothing to talk as of now on alliance. We are not going to announce tickets for at least two days,” Shaktisinh Gohil, the Bihar in-charge of the Congress, told ET. However, people in the know said sitting MLAs had been asked to prepare for nominations. After that the party would also release a list of candidates either on Monday or Tuesday. The remaining seats would be announced once the seat sharing was finalised.The CPI(ML), which is set to join the Grand Alliance, has announced candidates for 30 seats. However, RJD insiders told ET it would withdraw candidates once its share of seats was finalised.