Jitan Ram Manjhi seeks 5 seats for HAM for LS polls

Patna, June 2 Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) patron and former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Friday met Bihar Finance Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary of the JD-U during which he sought five seats for his party to contest in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Manjhi met Chaudhary at the minister's 5 Circular Road residence here.

"We have demanded 5 seats from Nitish Kumar for the Lok Sabha election. We have a strong preparation for those seats. We conducted the Jan Sampark Abhiyan for the last several weeks and got a good response. We want prominent seats for the party. It will be good for everyone," Manjhi said.

Manjhi, whose party is a constituent of the Grand Alliance, hinted that he wanted to clear the matter over 'seats allocation' with Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Nitish Kumar as well as the 'Mahagathbandhan' before the Opposition party's meeting scheduled on June 12.

Manjhi is considered the most influential leader of the Mahadalit community in Bihar, having sizable vote banks in Gaya district. Besides, Jamui, Nawada and other districts also have a large number of voters from the Mahadalit community.

Jitan Ram Manjhi had met Home Minister Amit Shah. However, the former Bihar chief minister asserted that it was not a "political meeting".

Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats. According to sources, Rashtriya Janata Dal and JD-U will contest in 15 seats each.