Cometh elections, cometh the hour of political one-upmanship. Unsurprisingly, Bihar, where assembly elections will take place next month, is witnessing hectic parleys and conflicts concerning the allocation of seats. Both coalitions, the National Democratic Alliance and its rival, the Grand Alliance, have been afflicted by this phenomenon. In the latter, the Rashtriya Janata Dal is having to bargain hard with the Congress that is said to be claiming a slice of the electoral pie that is far disproportionate to its capacity to deliver on the ground. But the developments in the former camp warrant greater attention. This is because these subtle political games of outmanoeuvring allies signify broader transitions within the NDA. Consider the following developments. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which had, until the last assembly polls, played second fiddle to Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) has, on this occasion, flaunted its muscles by dominating the seat-sharing talks. The BJP and the JD(U) are fighting an equal number of seats; that Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has been allotted a fair number of seats is being seen as a ploy by the duopoly of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to further weaken Mr Kumar’s party. It must be remembered that Mr Paswan had managed to cut into the JD(U)’s tally significantly in 2020, enabling the BJP to emerge as the big brother in the alliance. Aware of the risk, the JD(U) has responded by reclaiming five of its traditional seats that had gone to Mr Paswan’s party. This is unlikely to be the end of the drama: the Hindustani Awam Morcha and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, the two smaller members of the NDA, are cut up about their share of seats. Further negotiations and possible gains cannot be ruled out.

All this is suggestive of a curious facet about electoral democracy in India. A political alliance shifts, evolves, on account of the constant push and pull factors among allies. At the heart of these negotiations lies the compulsion of competitive politics. So much so that the longevity of alliances cannot be taken for granted. The deepening of Indian democracy, manifest in the rising negotiation powers of marginal groups, has led to this culture of opportunism. But it would be naive to view this on moral grounds only.