LJP, RLSP, JAP created buzz ahead of elections, but it fizzled out

PATNA: The Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Rakesh Ranjan aka Pappu Yadav-led Jan Adhikar Party and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) failed to make any impact despite creating a lot of noise and buzz during the Bihar assembly election campaign.

The LJP decided to go solo in the Assembly polls after targeting Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) President Nitish Kumar and bargaining hard with the BJP over seat-sharing. However, it did make a heavy dent in the fortunes of JD-U candidates across the state.

The Lok Janshakti Party managed to win just one seat out of 137 seats it contested. The party also bettered its vote percentage as it managed to get 5.66 per cent votes as compared to 4.5 per cent in the 2015 assembly polls.

As per the voting record, the LJP cut into the votes of the JD-U and other parties by a good margin on more than 40 seats in the state.

The LJP also dented the hopes of the BJP and the Congress on several seats in the state especially the VIP seat of Raghopur from where RJD's Tejashwi Yadav was contesting for the second time and Hasanpur, from where Tej Pratap Yadav was contesting.

Even during the election campaigning, the BJP had accused the LJP of being a "vote katua" (vote-cutter).

Meanwhile, Kushwaha's RLSP, which also left the Grand Alliance over seat-sharing, contested as part of a third front called 'Grand Democratic Secular Front' (GDSF), trying to emerge as kingmaker in the state along with the Assauddin Owaisi-led AIMIM and the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

The RLSP, which contested on 104 seats, could not manage to win even a single seat. However, it played spoilsport at several places since its candidates ate into the vote share of several parties. The RLSP, which contested the 2015 assembly polls in alliance with NDA, had managed to get 3.6 per cent votes which declined to 1.77 per cent in this election.

Meanwhile, the BSP managed to win one seat while the AIMIM emerged victorious on five seats. The BSP and AIMIM contested on 80 and 11 seats respectively.

For Rakesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, who formed his own party named Jan Adhikar Party (JAP), ahead of 2015 assembly polls, 2020 once again proved unlucky as he lost from the Madhepura assembly seat. Besides him, all the 136 other party candidates too lost in their constituencies. Pappu Yadav was former MP from Madhepura and was suspended from the RJD for anti-party activities as he launched an attack on the Lalu Prasad family. (IANS)

Also Read: Dalai Lama greets Biden, says climate change indeed pressing

Also Watch: All Religion Prayer Meet in Jorhat for Tarun Gogoi