India, Oct. 13 -- After days of intense negotiations in Delhi, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Sunday finalised its seat-sharing formula for the Bihar assembly elections, with the BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) set to contest 101 constituencies each out of the total 243 seats. The remaining seats have been distributed among smaller allies.

This marks the first time that the two major NDA partners in Bihar will fight an equal number of seats. The announcement comes less than a week before the filing of nominations for the first phase of the elections.

Under the deal, Union Minister Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will field candidates in 29 constituencies, while the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Se...