PATNA: If Lok Sabha results are any indication, Chirag Paswan is the newest “Dalit icon” in Bihar, an heir to his father’s legacy. He has not only won from Hajipur (SC) but has also got all the other four seats that his Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) contested. It’s a perfect 5/5 score or him.
Chirag’s father Ram Vilas Paswan, who passed away in 2020, represented Hajipur eight times and earned a place for himself in national politics.
The four seats apart from Hajipur (SC) that the LJP (RV) won are: Samastipur (SC), Khagaria, Vaishali and Jamui (SC). Chirag won twice — in 2014 and 2019 — from Jamui.
Chirag won the Hajipur seat by defeating his nearest rival Shivchandra Ram of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) by over 1.70 lakh votes. While Paswan polled 6.14 lakh votes, Ram got 4.44 lakh votes.
In 2019, Hajipur seat went to his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras, who formed a new party, the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party, after a split in 2021 in the old version of the party formed by Ram Vilas. In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and its ally JD(U) won 12 seats each out of the total 40 constituencies in the state. While the saffron party’s vote share was slightly over 20%, Nitish’s party got 18.52% of the total votes.
“We have kept a 100% strike rate. In 2019, we won all the six seats we contested and in 2024 we won all the five seats allotted to our party under the seat-sharing formula of BJP-led NDA,” said LJP(RV) state president Raju Tiwari. “Chirag Paswan is an icon of Dalits in Bihar,” he said.
Chirag is now in a position to strike a better deal with the BJP in forming the NDA government at the Centre. “We have given unconditional support to PM Modi, who has to take a final call on the portfolios,” said a senior LJP(RV) leader.
1.7 lakh margin
Chirag won the Hajipur seat by defeating his nearest rival Shivchandra Ram of RJD by over 1.70 lakh votes. While Paswan polled 6.14 lakh votes, Ram got 4.44 lakh votes. In 2019, Hajipur seat went to his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras