Patna, July 6: Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular has identified 60 and odd seats for contesting in the upcoming Assembly polls but the newest NDA constituent might have to settle for far less with the BJP alone eyeing around 150.

The committees constituted by Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular (HAMS) to identify the seats it would pitch for during the seat-sharing talks in the NDA have come out with the figure.

Manjhi had announced last month his party would join the NDA. Besides the BJP and HAMS, LJP and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) are in the NDA fold in Bihar.

The BJP, LJP and the RLSP had contested the Lok Sabha elections together in 2014.

"The committees had earlier identified 80 and odd seats but after an internal assessment by senior leaders of the party, the number was pruned to around 60," a HAMS core committee member told The Telegraph requesting anonymity.

As regards the parameters used for identifying the seats, another senior HAMS leader said the number of Dalit votes was taken into account in most of the seats.

The constituencies having 40,000 or more Dalit voters were considered to be safe given that Manjhi belonged to the same community and the party was trying to project itself as the one championing the cause of Dalits.

Dalits constitute around 16 per cent of the state's 10.4 crore population. A good chunk of it - around five per cent - are already considered to be the ardent followers of Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP.

Though HAMS has identified the seats, it appears to be open to negotiations.

The senior party leader hinted so stating that in case some HAMS leaders shifted to the BJP ahead of the Assembly elections, it would reduce the number of seats on which it would stake its claim.

As regards the seats HAMS was planning to stake claim, the party's core committee member said those details would be shared at an opportune time.

"As of now, all I can say is that the seats identified are in Munger, Magadh, Vaishali and Muzaffarpur areas," he added.

Political observers are keenly waiting for the BJP's reaction to HAMS' identification of seats.

"According to our original plan, we intended to give 40 to 50 seats to the LJP and something between 20 and 30 seats to the RLSP. The remaining seats were to be contested by our party. Now that HAMS, too, has become a constituent of the NDA, we would definitely give them seats but in no case the BJP would contest in less than 150 Assembly seats this time around," a senior BJP leader.

There are 243 seats in the Bihar Legislative Assembly. Going by the BJP leader's hint, Manjhi's party would be offered something between 20 and 30 seats.

The leader, who also happens to be a former minister, maintained that it was too early to jump to any conclusion as far as seat-sharing formula was concerned.

"Let there be the seat-sharing talks first. A clear picture would emerge only after the allies open their cards during the course of the negotiation. We are, however, hopeful that there would not be much problem because all our constituents have given enough indications that they stood for strengthening Prime Minister Narendra Modi's hand. It would work as a great cementing force even if there is varied opinions on the seat share," the BJP leader added.

Amid these developments, HAMS is hoping to get the party registered with the Election Commission of India in July itself.

"According to the directive of the commission, we had come out with an advertisement last month in newspapers seeking objections in case anyone had some. Its deadline is July 7. Thereafter, the commission would scrutinise the objections, followed by which the registration process would move ahead," HAMS state unit president Shakuni Choudhary said on Monday.