Hours after the Election Commission of India (ECI) froze Lok Janshakti Party's symbol, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Manoj Jha on Saturday came out in support of Chirag Paswan, and said no matter what symbol he uses, the support of the common people and supporters of his late father Ram Vilas Paswan will always be there with him.
"No matter what symbol Chirag Paswan uses to appear before the public, he will always have the support of the common man, of the supporters of Ram Vilas Paswan. Freezing of the party symbol and the support base are two different things. Whenever there has been a dispute in any party from 1947 till now, the symbol becomes important and the Election Commission usually freezes it," Jha said.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday froze Lok Janshakti Party's symbol amid a tussle between factions of Chirag Pawan and Pashupati Kumar Paras.
ECI in an official statement said, "neither of the two groups of Paswan or Chirag will be permitted to use the symbol LJP". The Commission further directed both the groups to chose, as an interim measure, the names of their groups and the "symbols which may be allotted to the candidates set up, if any, by the respective groups," latest by October 4.
Both Chirag Paswan and newly-elected LJP national president Pashupati Kumar Paras, earlier in June, had written to the Election Commission over the right on the party symbol, sources had said.
After the death of LJP's founder and former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, the party has split into two factions. Chirag Paswan has been left alone while the rest of the MPs have gone with his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras.
( With inputs from ANI )
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