PATNA, Oct. 13 -- Both the leading alliances -- NDA and INDIA bloc -- have given or promised a number of sops for the electorate, yet both the coalitions have had hiccups in finalising seat-sharing arrangements for the Bihar polls scheduled in two phases in November. The delay, despite the nomination process already setting in, reflects cracks in the confidence of political parties in cobbling allies together and being sure of public support, believe political analysts. Interestingly, sops rained by the ruling NDA and promised by the Opposition's Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance are disproportionate to the state's economic health because despite sustained high figurative growth it remains at the bottom of the ladder with the lowest per capita income. Against such a backdrop, the weight of sops, political parties would be hoping, must be balanced with support from the public. Or the fulcrum will slip in and the pendulum might shift away from them. BJP in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is grappling with the alliance partners as much as the RJD in the INDIA bloc, while party hopping has gathered momentum in both the directions without waiting for the formal announcement of seat-sharing as some political leaders are too schizophrenic about their political future and are thus searching for safe political fortunes. On October 17, the first phase of nomination ends and starting on October 13, the second phase of nomination will end on October 20. Thus, it's only a week left for both the alliances to not only declare seat-sharing deals but even clear candidates who can file papers on time. Experts attribute the lack of confidence and confusion in the coalitions due to rising aspirations of the smaller constituents among themselves to have a bigger pie of the cake, compulsion of the bigger parties not to yield extra space and the small margin of error in closely fought contests. "The signs of Dalit assertion within the NDA had started long before, as the HAM of Jitan Ram Manjhi and Chirag Paswan's LJP-R got involved in shadow boxing long before the seat sharing talks got serious. In the INDIA bloc, Congress and the VIP have also been quite vocal about a better deal for a long time, and with the likes of three Left parties, JMM and others, it has a problem of plenty," said social analyst NK Choudhary. He said that this way or that way, both sides cannot delay further, as after the seat-sharing formula there will be an onerous task of finding the right candidate for every seat. "The alliances may have had problems sealing seat sharing, but the turncoats have got none, as they have already started switching sides in anticipation, as the bigger parties have sounded their potential candidates on important seats," he added. Former director of the AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies DM Diwakar said that the delay and indecision clearly showed lack of confidence and conviction in both the alliances, more so because of the emergence of Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party, Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM and other players like BSP, AAP, etc. All these parties have the potential to affect the calculations in their respective areas of strength with the help of an increasingly aspirational young population. Bihar remains the state with the youngest population with a median age under 25. Multi-cornered elections can be dicey in state elections, as they have very little margin of error. In 2020 Bihar elections, 11 seats were decided by less than 1,000 votes and that made the ultimate difference as to who formed the government and there were 40 seats witnessing extremely close contests with the margin of victory less than 3,500. On Hilsa seat in Nalanda district JD(U) candidate won against RJD by just 12 votes. "The 2020 election was very close as it was a direct fight. This time the multi-cornered contests have the power to make things a bit tricky and that could be the reason behind confusion despite clarity over the substantial number of seats that BJP, RJD and JD(U) would fight for. The alliances want to hold on and yet the main players are not ready to spare extra space due to the proclivity of smaller parties to drift post election, which could also be crucial," said Diwakar. Experts feel that time has already heralded the "match is on" and both the alliances have to ready their fighting forces....