The BJP and the JDU will contest 101 seats each in next month’s elections to Bihar’s 243-member Assembly, a Union minister announced on Sunday, asserting the alliance had finalised the seat shares in a “cordial atmosphere”.

That the JDU is not contesting more seats than the BJP in a Bihar Assembly election marks a first for NDA, reflecting the saffron party’s rising clout in a state dominated historically by Mandal politics.

During the 2020 polls, the JDU had contested 115 seats and the BJP, 110.

The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has been allotted 29 seats while the Hindustani Awam Morcha and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha have got six seats each.

The sizes of the seat shares have strengthened speculation that the BJP might be looking to take over the chief minister’s chair from the ageing JDU boss, Nitish Kumar, who has ruled Bihar nearly uninterrupted for two decades.

While the BJP has declared that the alliance is contesting the election under Nitish’s leadership, it has withheld clarity on whether he would be the chief minister again if the NDA wins.

On Sunday, BJP leaders justified the seat volumes citing the JDU’s past performance.

“The distribution has been done focusing on winnability. The JDU contested 115 seats the last time but won just over 40 while the BJP bagged more than 70 seats,” a BJP leader said.

Although a joint NDA announcement had been planned, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan — the BJP’s principal election minder for Bihar — declared the seat shares unilaterally on X.

“We NDA allies have completed the distribution of seats in a cordial atmosphere,” Pradhan wrote. “BJP — 101, JD(U) — 101, LJP (R) — 29, RLM — 6, HAM — 6. All workers and leaders of NDA parties warmly welcome this.”

In a reflection of the BJP’s growing dominance within the alliance, almost all the partners promptly echoed Pradhan’s message on X.

Union MSME minister and HAM leader Jitan Ram Manjhi, however, appeared to betray some unease although he reaffirmed his loyalty to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I am heading to Patna now. By the way, let me repeat what I’ve always said — I, Jitan Ram Manjhi, will stand with Honourable Prime Minister @narendramodi ji until my last breath,” he posted on X.

Manjhi had earlier publicly demanded at least 15 seats, warning that his party might prefer to sit out if offered fewer.

The JDU was learnt to have sought just one seat more than the BJP as a symbolic affirmation of its seniority, but the request was declined.

“We NDA colleagues have completed the distribution of seats in a cordial atmosphere,” JDU working president Sanjay Kumar Jha posted on X.