NEW DELHI: The seat-sharing agreement among NDA partners in Bihar was mired in a controversy for a long time and resulted in defection of Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP from the saffron coalition to the UPA. The LJP had also created a flutter by giving the BJP-led alliance an 'ultimatum' on the seat-sharing formula. However, the BJP had last week finalised the seat-sharing arrangement with the LJP with the Ram Vilas Paswan-led party given five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. The BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JDU will contest on 17 seats each.

Now according to ABP News survey, Kushwaha's absence won't hurt the NDA in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. In fact, the BJP-led alliance will perform better and win more seats in 2019 in comparison to 2014 elections.

In the 'Desh Ka Mood' survey, the NDA is slated to sweep Bihar with 35 seats, four more than it secured in 2014. The Congress-led UPA, which includes Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD, Kushwaha's RLSP and Jitan Manjhi's HAM, will get only five seats.

In 2014, Nitish Kumar broke ties with the NDA over Narendra Modi’s candidature as Prime Minister and both parties contested separately. The BJP then won 22 seats while its allies the LJP and the RLSP won six and three seats respectively. The NDA has now been bolstered by the presence of the JDU, which fought against it in the last polls.

Opposition parties believed political winds are no longer as favourable to the BJP as they were in 2014 due to "anti-incumbency" against both Modi and Kumar and hoped that Kushwaha's exit will further weaken the state's ruling alliance. However, their assertion seems to be far away from the ground reality.