Patna: Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) has decided to contest 143 seats in the upcoming elections in Bihar. LJP Chief Chirag Paswan reiterated his claim that his party is ready to contest 143 seats in the assembly polls. The development comes after Paswan chaired a crucial meet of former parliamentarians and MPs on how to fight the elections.
There have been reports of a growing rift between the ruling NDA allies LJP and the Nitish Kumar- led JD(U). Paswan had been critical of Nitish government's handling of a number of issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic and law and order in the state. The LJP chief has maintained that his party will support whoever the BJP supports as the chief ministerial candidate in the polls. The LJP and the JD(U) have been in a war of words, with Paswan often taking aim at the functioning of the Bihar government under Kumar.
The BJP has already announced that chief minister Nitish Kumar will be the NDA’s choice for the job in the assembly polls. The LJP has six members in the Lok Sabha from the state and one Rajya Sabha member is its founder and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan.
Chandan Singh, LJP MP, said, "All the LJP leaders have expressed their desire that the party should contest on 143 parties."
Bihar has 243 Assembly seats and elections in the state are due and expected in October-November as the tenure of the current Assembly will end by last November this year. The Election Commission has not yet taken a final call on poll dates in Bihar.
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At the meeting, Paswan said that the parliamentary board will soon submit a list of candidates for 143 assembly seats to the central parliamentary board. Paswan had urged BJP president J P Nadda that the saffron party should fight more seats than the Janata Dal (United) in the upcoming Bihar assembly polls.
The LJP chief had prefixed his Twitter handle with "Yuva Bihari" (young Bihari) and has been touring the state to gather supporters for the party's rally on April 14 in Patna. He has named his statewide yatra as 'Bihar first, Bihari first'.
The JD(U) believes that it should get more seats to contest than the BJP for the assembly polls as it has more MLAs than the saffron party. The BJP has made no official comment on its likely share of seats.
With agency inputs
