Seat sharing formula finalised; Congress will contest from 9 seats
By Vishwapti
Patna: Finally, the seat sharing formula for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections among the allies of INDIA alliance has been finalised. According to the formula, Rashtriya Janata Dal will contest in 26 Parliamentary constituencies, Congress will contest in nine Lok Sabha seats, CPI-ML (Liberation) will contest in the three seats, and CPI and CPM will contest in one seat each.
During a joint press conference in Patna on Friday, RJD state president Jagdanand Singh and Congress state president Dr Akhilesh Singh made a public announcement about the distribution of seats between RJD-Congress and Left parties under the INDIA Alliance.
According to the seat-sharing formula, a difficult situation has arisen for former MP Pappu Yadav, who recently joined Congress and wanted to contest from Purnia. This seat is now in RJD’s account. Because of this, Pappu Yadav’s future hangs in balance. Bima Bharti, who joined RJD from JD(U), will be the Grand Alliance candidate from Purnia seat. In the last Lok Sabha elections, Lalu’s party, RJD contested 19 seats and Congress on 9 seats. The Left had separately fielded its candidates for 6 seats.
Seat sharing formula:
RJD: Aurangabad, Gaya, Jamui, Nawada, Saran, Patliputra, Buxar, Ujiarpur, Jehanabad, Darbhanga, Banka, Araria, Munger, Sitamarhi, Jhanjharpur, Madhubani, Siwan, Shivhar, Vaishali, Hajipur, Balmiki Nagar, East Champaran, Purnia, Madhepura, Supaul and Gopalganj
Congress: Katihar, Kishanganj, Patna Sahib, Sasaram, Bhagalpur, Bettiah, Muzaffarpur, Maharajganj and Samastipur.
Left parties:
CPI(ML): Ara, Karakat, Nalanda
CPI: Begusarai
CPM: Khagaria
After 3 days of brainstorming between RJD and Congress leaders in Delhi, the formula with terms and conditions has been decided. Right now, Tejashwi Yadav is in Delhi. RJD state president Jagdanand Singh, Congress state president Akhilesh Prasad Singh, RJD leaders Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Shyam Rajak, Uday Narayan Chaudhary and Dhirendra Jha, and Ram Naresh Pandey from the left parties were present at the RJD office in Patna. Usually, prominent leaders of all parties get a chance to speak in a joint press conference.
But in today’s press conference of the Grand Alliance, two RJD leaders, Abdul Bari Siddiqui and Manoj Jha, simply expressed their views. Akhilesh Prasad Singh, the state president of Congress, and leaders of the left parties did not have a chance to speak.
The author is a senior journalist based in Patna
