New Delhi: Ahead of the assembly election in Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has forged an alliance with Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and Ramvilas Paswan-led LJP with an offer of a couple of seats each to them. According to latest updates, the party has given two seats to JD(U) and one to LJP. While JD(U) will contest from Burari and Sangam Vihar assembly constituencies, LJP will fight the poll from Simapuri seat. 


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BJP already has Akali Dal as an ally and is expected to spare at least four seats for it, the same number it gave in the 2015 assembly election. According to the agreement formed between the two parties, one SAD candidate will fight the poll on BJP symbol. SAD leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa is a BJP MLA in Delhi.


According to sources, Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar is expected to campaign in the national capital. 


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On Friday, BJP had announced a list of 57 candidates for the Delhi election. According to reports, the party is most likely to give most of the remaining 13 seats to alliance partners. Although, an official confirmation on the same remains awaited from the party. Notably, the party has also not announced its candidates from New Delhi seat from where Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is re-contesting.


Also Read: BJP releases its first list of 57 candidates for Delhi assembly election


ANI quoted a source saying earlier that BJP is also in talks with the Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) on some of the pending seats. They said one round of talks have been held between Chautala and the BJP leadership and the second round of talks was expected to be held on January 17-18. It is learnt that JJP has staked the claim on 10-12 Jat dominated seats but the BJP has offered the party 2 seats with four of its candidates to fight on the BJP symbol.


The JJP is yet to take a call on offer made by the BJP.


Earlier on January 17, the BJP released its first list of 57 candidates for the Delhi assembly election, which included sitting as well as former MLAs. Former AAP leader Kapil Mishra, who joined BJP last year, will contest from Model Town in north Delhi.


The party candidates include Jai Prakash from Sadar Bazar, Suman Kumar Gupta from Chandani Chowk, Ashish Sood from Janakpuri, Sanjay Singh from Vikaspuri, Vijay Pandit from Palam, IS Bakshi from Jangpura, Anil Sharma from RK Puram, Arvind Kumar from Deoli, Shikha Rai from Tughlakabad, Vijay Bhagat from Rithala, Anil Jha from Kirari and Rekha Gupta from Shalimar Bagh.


On the other hand, the ruling party AAP has announced its candidates for all 70 seats. 


Congress is contesting the election in an alliance with Lalu Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The grand old party will contest on 66 seats while the RJD, which was demanding at least seven seats, will fight on four seats.


The voting for 70-member Delhi assembly will be held in a single phase on February 8 and the counting of votes will take place on February 11.


The BJP faces a tough battle in Delhi where it has been out of power for over two decades. In the 2015 election, the party could win only three seats with the ruling AAP scoring a landslide victory with 67 seats.