The major constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Jharkhand today unveiled their seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming 2024 Jharkhand Assembly elections.
Assam Chief Minister and co-in-charge of Jharkhand elections, Himanta Biswa Sarma, announced that a deal has been reached among the key parties.
During a joint press conference of BJP and AJSU Party on Friday, Sarma revealed that according to the agreed formula, the AJSU Party will contest 10 seats, JD(U) will field candidates in 2 seats, and the Lok Janshakti Party (Chirag Paswan faction) will contest 1 seat in the state polls.
He added that the BJP will contest the remaining seats, which will roughly account for 68 out of the 81 seats in the Jharkhand Assembly.
However, the Assam Chief Minister noted that there could be minor adjustments in one or two seats depending on the candidate lists announced by the opposition INDI Alliance.
“We have finalised the seat-sharing arrangement, which was crucial. We will leave one or two seats open for negotiation until the final day of nominations, as we are contesting these polls as the NDA, not as separate parties like BJP, AJSU, or others,” Sarma explained.
He announced that AJSU will contest the constituencies of Silli, Ramgarh, Gomia, Pakur, Manoharpur, Lohardaga, Jugsalai, Mandu, Dumri, and Ichagarh.
JD(U) will contest Jamshedpur West and Tamar, while LJP will contest from the Chatra constituency.
Earlier, Union Agriculture Minister and Jharkhand election in-charge, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, expressed confidence in the NDA's prospects, stating that the coalition will contest with full confidence and secure a decisive victory.
Chouhan also emphasised that the election is being fought under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and each member of the alliance is crucial to its success.
Regarding the NDA’s chief ministerial candidate, Sarma said that the announcement will be made at the appropriate time, as the election is being fought under PM Modi's leadership.