PATNA, Sept. 11 -- With the Vice-President's election over and all eyes now on the Bihar polls, the NDA is set for a final round of negotiations to finalise seat-sharing. Both JD(U) and BJP are expected to contest over 100 seats each, while the remaining will go to the three allies, with LJP (Ram Vilas) likely to get the third-highest share of 20-plus seats, a senior NDA leader aware of the matter said. The leader said the seat-sharing formula among the constituents, which has already been broadly decided, would be announced amicably before September-end. "NDA is one and there is no issue with anyone. All the parties in the NDA by and large know which seats they will fight and they are working unitedly for each seat on the ground. The announcement will happen at the appropriate time by the senior NDA leaders without any hassles," said a senior NDA leader, who did not want to be quoted. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar himself pointed towards 'some understanding' a few days ago when he declared JD-U candidate for the Rajpur (reserve) seat in Buxar during his address to a gathering, even though seat-sharing is yet to be formally announced by the NDA. "The consultation process has been going on for quite some time and more will happen in the days to come. If NDA eyes 225 seats in the 243-member Assembly, it has to put its best foot forward on every seat and that is precisely the reason why constituency-wise vigorous joint campaigning has been going on. All the senior leaders of the parties have got a fair idea about their seats as many are winning seats," said another senior leader aware of the political developments in the state. On the posturing of LJP-R and HAM-S, he said it was not unnatural for any party to try for maximum possible seats till the numbers are actually announced in consultation with all, but being an old and trusted NDA ally, they would also get adequate numbers to win maximum. There is a general perception within NDA that the two main parties - the BJP and the JD-U - would distribute between them around 2005-210 seats, with JD-U wanting to get at least one or two more to drive home the message that Nitish Kumar was still in a position to call the shots. During the Lok Sabha election, JD(U) got 17, while the BJP contested 16 only. The rest of the seats would go to the three allies -- LJP-R of Chirag Paswan, HMA-S of Jitan Ram Manjhi and Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) of Upendra Kushwaha despite some overtures from the smaller alliance partners to squeeze a few more. Among the smaller allies, LJP has a stronger claim due to its fine show in the 2024 Lok Sabha election as part of the NDA. In 2020, unhappy with the seat-sharing formula, it had contested independently and was seen as the reason behind the poor show of the JD(U) in particular and NDA in general to make the contest uncomfortably close, even though it could win just one seat. With time ticking fast and elections likely to be announced any day in September-end or October first week, NDA leaders are confident that seat sharing would not have any major hitch. After the PM, Home Minister Amit Shah is also scheduled to visit Bihar on September 18 and will hold meetings before giving final shape to the seat-sharing formula. "The overriding thing is that NDA is strong and united with a common objective of forming the government with a decisive mandate to take forward Bihar's development saga under the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. When the time comes, seat sharing will also be announced and it will be smooth like it was during the Lok Sabha election," said union minister of state for home Nityanand Rai, a three-term MP and four-term MLA. JD(U) working president Sanjay Jha said that seat-sharing might be an issue for the Opposition due to inherent contradictions and soaring ambitions, but it was no issue in the NDA, where there was no question on the proven track record of PM Narendra Modi and CM Nitish Kumar. "When the objective is clear, leadership is proven and accepted and Bihar's development story is the guiding force, NDA has a lot of positives to go to the masses with and all the alliance partners are one on this. There was no issue just a year ago during the Lok Sabha election and the cohesion within the NDA has only grown," he added. In the 2020 Assembly election, JD(U) had contested 115 seats, but suffered badly winning just 43, while the BJP had contested 110 seats and won 74. In 2010, JD(U) had contested 141 seats and the BJP 102 seats, winning 115 and 91 respectively to record a landslide victory for the NDA in Bihar. In 2015, JD(U) was part of the Grand Alliance....