New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) sealed its seat sharing arrangements for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections next month, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the JD(U) [Janata Dal (United)] set to contest an equal number of seats each for the first time.In a statement on X on Sunday (October 12) Union minister and the BJP’s Bihar election in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan said that the seat sharing arrangement had been finalised in a “cordial atmosphere”.Pradhan announced that the BJP and the JD(U) will be contesting on 101 seats each, Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will contest 29 seats, while Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) will contest six seats each.The seat sharing arrangement marks the first time that the JD(U) will be contesting an equal number of seats as the BJP, having contested more seats than the saffron party in previous elections. In the 2020 assembly elections, the JD(U) contested 115 seats while the BJP fought on 110, in 2015 the JD(U) contested the elections in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and its allies. In 2010, the JD(U) contested 141, and BJP 102 seats, while in 2005 the JD(U) contested 139 and the BJP 102 seats.In 2020, Union minister Paswan had contested 135 of Bihar’s 243 assembly seats independently. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, however, it won all five of the seats it contested and became a key alliance partner for the NDA government in the centre when the BJP won 240 seats.Also read: Bihar SIR Key Takeaways: ‘Missing Voters’ Triple, Gender Skew Worse, 5 Lakh Voters With Gibberish ValuesHowever, murmurs of discontent were visible among smaller allies including from Union minister Manjhi and Kushwaha.“What the high command decided, we accept, but by giving six seats, they have undervalued us, it may have repercussions in NDA,” Manjhi told Press Trust of India on Sunday evening.On Monday, he said that there is no discontent about seat sharing arrangements despite being hurt.“We had demanded 15 seats but they gave 6. We have been hurt in our hearts but we stand with the NDA leadership’s decision and are satisfied. We thank Narendra Modi. Under Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar good work has been done. So there is no dissatisfaction with the seat sharing, we are with the NDA,” he said.In a statement on X, Kushwaha issued an apology to his party members and supporters for not being able to secure the number of seats according to their “expectations” and that the seat sharing deal may have hurt thousands of people.“However, I am sure you all understand the constraints and limitations of both me and the party. Behind every decision, there are some circumstances that are visible from the outside, but there are also some that are not visible from the outside. We know that due to ignorance of the internal circumstances, there may be anger in your hearts towards me, which is also natural,” he wrote.Kushwaha added: “I humbly request you to let the anger subside, and then you will yourself realise how appropriate or inappropriate the decision is. Time will tell the rest. For now, that is all.”