Lok Janshakti Party

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The Lok Janshakti Party ( LJP , also Lok Jan Shakti Party , Hindi लोक जनशक्ति पार्टी , "Party of People's Rule") is a regional party with a focus in the Indian state of Bihar .

Party history

The party was founded in Delhi on November 28, 2000 by Ram Vilas Paswan , who has also been party leader since then . Paswan had been active as a politician in Bihar for decades. His career began in the Samyukta Socialist Party (United Socialist Party), for which he was elected to the Bihar parliament in 1969. Later he was a member of the Lok Sabha for the constituency of Hajipur in Bihar, first for the Janata Party 1977–79, then for the Janata Party (Secular) and Lok Dal 1979–84 and from 1989–1998 for the Janata Dal . When the Janata Dal, which had previously covered a large part of the political center-left spectrum, split up into numerous successor parties , the so-called Janata parivar parties , in the years 1997-99 , Paswan switched to the largest of these groups, the Janata Dal (United) (JD (U)). The JD (U) was led by Sharad Yadav and joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a coalition of parties led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). After the all-India election in 1999 , the JD (U) was represented with ministerial posts in the coalition cabinet of Atal Bihari Vajpayee . Paswan also received a ministerial office.

In 2000 there was a break between Paswan and the JD (U) leadership. The immediate cause were disputes in connection with the election to the parliament of Bihar in February 2000. In this election the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD, also a Janata Dal successor party) around Lalu Prasad Yadav was the main political opponent. However, this election was disappointing for the NDA and the JD (U) and subsequently led to the formation of a government led by the RJD in Bihar. As a result, tensions between party leaders Yadav and Paswan escalated and the latter finally announced that he wanted to leave the JD (U) and start his own party. However, he initially remained with his supporters in the NDA and remained a member of the Vajpayee government.

After the riots in Gujarat in 2002 , in which several thousand people were killed by religiously motivated violence, Paswan resigned in protest on April 29, 2002 from his ministerial post in the Vajpayee government and left the NDA with his party. In 2004, the LJP joined the Congress Party- led United Progressive Alliance (UPA). This alliance was changeable for the LJP. In the 2004 Indian election , the LJP won 4 of the 40 constituencies of Bihar, which most observers saw as a significant success for the still young party. In the general election in Bihar in February 2005, the LJP won 29 of the 243 constituencies. Due to a lack of majorities, no stable government came about, so that another election was held in October 2005, with the LJP only winning 10 constituencies. In 2006 the LJP left the UPA again.

In March 2009, most of the Jan Morcha , which had been founded in 1987 by the former Prime Minister VP Singh , but had only been a small splinter party in Uttar Pradesh for a long time , united with the LJP. In the run-up to the Indian parliamentary elections in 2009 , the LJP joined the so-called Fourth Front , an alliance of parties from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The local wing of the LJP in Jharkhand , which felt disadvantaged by the constituency agreements, broke away from the parent party at the end of March 2009 and merged with the Congress Party. In the 2009 election, the LJP could not win a single constituency.

In 2013, the LJP rejoined the NDA, although Narendra Modi , who as Chief Minister at the time had a not inconsiderable responsibility for the riots in Gujarat in 2002, because of which the LJP had left the NDA, became the BJP's top candidate had been chosen. This alliance paid off at least in the 2014 election , in which the LJP won six constituencies in Bihar. Among the elected MPs was Chirag Paswan , the son of Ram Vilas Paswan, who has played an increasingly prominent role in the party for some time. At first coalition cabinet modes (2014-2019), the LJP was personnel involved.

The LJP's main voters are the lower castes in Bihar, especially the Dalits . Political competitors of the LJP in Bihar are mainly the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Election results

The following table shows the constituencies won in all-India elections and in elections in Bihar.

year choice Parliament seats
2004 IndiaIndia Election for Lok Sabha 2004
4/543
2005 General election in Bihar February 2005
29/243
2005 General election in Bihar October 2005
10/243
2009 IndiaIndia Election for Lok Sabha 2009
0/543
2010 General election in Bihar 2010
3/243
2014 IndiaIndia Election for Lok Sabha 2014
6/543

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Prashant Sood: Paswan to float new party today. Chandigarh Tribune, November 28, 2000, accessed October 1, 2014 .
  2. ↑ a b c Election Results - Full Statistical Reports. Indian Election Commission, accessed October 1, 2014 (English, election results of all Indian elections to the Lok Sabha and state parliaments since independence, including all constituency results).
  3. ↑ Old habits die hard. The Hindu, December 3, 2000, accessed October 1, 2014 .
  4. ^ Paswan rules out patch-up with Sharad Yadav. rediff.com, October 11, 2000, accessed October 1, 2014 .
  5. ^ TR Ramachandran: Paswan quits, parts ways with NDA. The Tribune, April 30, 2002, accessed October 1, 2014 .
  6. ↑ Gargi Parsai: January Morcha merges with LJP. The Hindu, March 7, 2009, accessed October 1, 2014 .
  7. ↑ LJP's Jharkhand unit merges with Congress. The Hindu, April 1, 2009, accessed October 1, 2014 .
  8. ↑ For Paswan and son, Gujarat 2002 is history for 2014. The Indian Express, February 27, 2014, accessed September 11, 2014 .
  9. ↑ Giridhar Jha: Politics over Bollywood for Ram Vilas Paswan's actor-son Chirag. indiatoday.in, June 11, 2013, accessed October 2, 2014 .
  10. ↑ Lalu calls Paswan 'weathercock', LJP leader hits back. indiatoday.in, August 17, 2014, accessed October 1, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Chirag Paswan calls Lalu Prasad a retired comedian. indiatoday.in, August 18, 2014, accessed October 1, 2014 .