Jharkhand Assembly Elections 2019: No Alliance With BJP, LJP to Contest Alone in 50 Seats, Announces Chirag Paswan

Ranchi, November 12: The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), will go solo in the upcoming Jharkhand assembly elections 2019. Party's newly appointed chief Chirag Paswan announced on Tuesday that the LJP will contest the polls in a pre-election alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Jharkhand Elections 2019: Congress Third List of 19 Candidates Out.

The party has decided to field its candidates in a total of 50 out of the 81 assembly segments in the state. The decision is based on the inputs received by the local leaders, Paswan said, adding that the first list of candidates will be issued later today.

With this announcement, LJP is the second NDA member which is contesting against the BJP in Jharkhand. Earlier, Bihar Chief Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) announced that it would be fielding its candidates in all seats of Jharkhand.

Update by ANI:

The fissures shown by BJP's Bihar allies -- both deciding to contest separately in Jharkhand -- comes amid the split seen by the party in Maharashtra with it's 30-year-old ideological ally Shiv Sena. The two Hindutva partners have parted ways after the BJP and Sena sparred for over a fortnight over the chief ministerial post.

Notably, the schedule of the Jharkhand assembly polls has been released by the Election Commission. The contest will be held in five phases, beginning from November 30 and ending on December 20. The results would be declared by the polling body on December 23. In 2014, the BJP had succeeded in forming the first-ever government in the state, winning 37 out of the 81 seats and being supported by independents and legislators of the All Jharkhand Students' Union (AJSU).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 12, 2019 12:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).