Patna (Bihar) [India], May 20 (ANI): Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief and candidate from Hajipur Lok Sabha seat Chirag Paswan on Monday launched a scathing attack against INDIA bloc, saying that the alliance will be at its all-time low, especially Congress.
"NDA is crossing 400 seats in the country whereas INDI alliance will be at its all-time low, especially the Congress," Chirag Paswan told ANI.
Chirag Paswan also hoped to receive the same affection his father, Ram Vilas Paswan received in the Hajipur constituency.
"My father has been a representative from Hajipur since 1977. I am hopeful that I get the same kind of love my father got from the people of Hajipur. Development and my father's name have been synonyms in Hajipur. I will make sure to work for the development of Hajipur. This time, we will win the Kishanganj seat which Congress had won in 2019," he said.
Chirag Paswan is contesting from Hajipur constituency. He is pitted against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate Shiv Chandra Ram.
Chirag Paswan's mother Rina Paswan also expressed confidence that his son is going to win the election with a huge number of votes.
"My blessings are with him. He (Chirag Paswan) will win with a huge number of votes," Rina Paswan said while speaking to ANI.
Hajipur, a seat reserved for Scheduled Castes, is considered to be a bastion of Ram Vilas Paswan. He won the seat eight times from 1977 to 2014, losing only twice in 1984 and 2009.
The 40 seats in Bihar are undergoing polls in all seven phases. In the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, voting in five constituencies-Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saran, and Hajipur is underway.
In 2019, BJP-led NDA swept the state by winning 39 out of 40 seats, while Congress won just one seat. RJD, a formidable force in the state failed to open its account.
In the 2019 elections, LJP candidate and Chirag Paswan's uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras emerged victorious, securing the seat for the first time, defeating RJD's Shiv Chandra Ram with a margin of 2,05,449 votes.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan won the seat for the eighth time. He polled 4,55,652 votes with a vote share of 50.31 per cent. Congress candidate Sanjeev Prasad Toni got 2,30,152 votes (25.41 per cent) and was the runner-up.
In Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance), the opposition coalition in Bihar, including Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, and Left parties; RJD, its largest constituent, is contesting on 26 out of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats, while Congress is contesting on nine seats.
As part of the NDA, BJP and JD(U) will contest on 17 and 16 seats respectively. Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will contest five seats, and Jitan Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) will contest one seat each.
Voting for the fifth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2024 began on Monday morning across 49 parliamentary constituencies spread over six states and two Union Territories (UTs) amid tight security and arrangements.
Leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Piyush Goyal, Ujjwal Nikam, Karan Bhushan Singh, LJP (Ramvilas) chief Chirag Paswan, JKNC chief Omar Abdullah, and RJD leader Rohini Acharya are looking for electoral success.
Eight states/UTs going for polls in phase 5 are Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
The counting of votes will be held on June 4. (ANI)
