Warring Factions of LJP Get New Party Names, Symbols Ahead of Bypolls

Chirag Paswan's faction will be called 'Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)' and will have the 'helicopter' symbol.

File image of LJP leader Chirag Paswan.

(Photo:PTI)

Just days after the Election Commission froze the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) symbol, the two factions of Chirag Paswan and Pashupati Paras were allotted new names symbols on Tuesday, 5 October, for the upcoming bypolls.

While Paswan's faction will be called 'Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)' and has been allotted the 'helicopter' symbol, Paras' faction will go by the name 'Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party' and has been given the 'sewing machine' symbol.

The factions were asked to submit separate names and party symbols for the bypolls by Monday.

The development comes amid a feud between the factions of Paswan and Paras, after the latter engineered a coup within the party following the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections.

The new symbols have been allotted in the backdrop of bypolls to the seats of Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur in Bihar later this month.

The Feud

Paras, an MP, earlier this year claimed the support of four out of five MPs of LJP, barring Chirag Paswan, and unseated him as the parliamentary party leader.

Paswan had later expelled the five rebel MPs from the party.

The rebellion against Chirag Paswan took place almost eight months after he took over the reins of the party following the demise of LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan.