Bihar assembly election 2025: The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) sounded the poll bugle on 8 June, where its chief and Union Minister Chirag Paswan addressed the “Nav Sankalp Sabha” in Ara in the Shahabad region of Bhojpur district of Bihar. Paswan asserted at the meeting that his party would script history from this region – not a stronghold of National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Paswan’s party, LJP is an NDA constituent.“Some people say that perhaps our alliance is not that strong – this beginning will show that what people are calling weak is actually laying the foundation for a historic win in that region,” he told India Today. There are 7 seven assembly constituencies, namely Sandesh, Barhara, Arrah, Agiaon, Tarari, Jagdishpur and Shahpur, under Shahabad region.“I will contest the assembly polls in Bihar. I will contest not just in Bihar but for Bihar and its people. I am the son of Ramvilas Paswan. I will realise the dreams of my father and work for ‘Bihar first, Bihari first’ to change Bihar,” PTI quoted Paswan as saying. The 42-year-old Hajpur MP remembered an old slogan he had coined prior to the previous assembly polls in 2020.
‘Better strike rate for my party, which would help the NDA’: Paswan “It is for the people of Bihar to decide from which seat in the state I should contest in the upcoming assembly elections. Whenever I take a political decision, I take it for the sake of the state and its people. Let me make one thing very clear. My contest will only ensure a better strike rate for my party, which would help the NDA,” he added.
LJP (Ram Vilas) in 2020 Bihar assembly election Paswan’s party contested on 134 out of 243 seats in the states, winning only Matihani seat whose MLA later switched to JD(U). It is believed that Paswan’s rebellion in the 2020 polls caused the defeat of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) JD(U), also a BJP ally, in 28 seats. The party’s candidates secured second place in nine constituencies. In four of these, the LJP fielded BJP rebels as their candidates. In two other constituencies, JDU rebels contested under the LJP. It recorded a vote share of 5.66 percent, ending up giving its worst-ever performance since its inception in October 2000.
Insha Mahereen
