Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) and BJP President Amit Shah (C) at the election committee at BJP headquarters.
The BJP will today decide its candidates for 81 seats that go to polls in the first two phases of the Bihar elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attending the crucial meet of the party's election committee.
Elections will be held in Bihar in five phases beginning October 12. Vote will be counted on November 8.
On Monday the BJP said it would contest 160 or about about two-thirds of the state's 243 seats and the rest would be divided among its three regional allies, in a formula that has left at least one of them miffed.
Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party has expressed unhappiness over last-minute adjustments made in the alliance's seat-sharing plans to placate another ally, Jitan Ram Manjhi, with more seats than were earmarked for him.
Mr Manjhi has been given 20 seats and can field some members of his party as BJP candidates. Upendra Khushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party will contest 23 seats.
The BJP has divided seats in a way that it can field enough candidates to have a chance at winning a majority - 122 seats - on its own, so that it is not overly dependent on allies should it form government in Bihar.
The coalition will not project anyone as its candidate for chief minister and will ask for votes for PM Modi and his development agenda. It takes on an alliance led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is seeking a third term.
Bihar is a must-win battle for the BJP, not only because it is the first state election after it suffered a devastating defeat in Delhi. The party needs to win as many seats as it can to urgently shore up numbers in the Rajya Sabha or upper house in Parliament, where a party's strength in state legislatures determines the number of seats it can win.
The BJP government is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha and has been unable to push critical reforms through Parliament, causing disquiet among investors. The Modi government had won power last year on a promise of economic reforms and more jobs.