The crisis in the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) continues as MP Chirag Paswan moved the Election Commission (EC) against his uncle and newly-elected President of the party, Pashupati Kumar Paras, using the party's name and symbol.
Earlier Paswan had been removed as president of the party by Paras and a faction in the party led by him.
Chirag Paswan moved the EC in New Delhi, seeking its intervention against Paras and his faction, using the party symbol and flag in its meetings.
Paswan also declared that he rejected his uncle's appointment as president and has convened a meeting of the party's national executive committee on Sunday, 13 June.
Paswan, according to news agency PTI, insisted that the meeting held in Patna was “unconstitutional” and lacked a quorum.
Patna High Court lawyer Amit Shrivastava told The Hindustan Times that as and when the dispute formally reaches the EC, the panel would be guided by the LJP constitution.
“The provisions and clauses in the LJP’s party constitution will be the determining factor in deciding whether any decision regarding appointment or termination of membership taken by the party top leaders is right or wrong, if any of the parties move court. The LJP is a recognised party by the Election Commission and is guided by the party constitution,” said Shrivastava to HT.
Paswan was "removed" as president of LJP early last week and party loyalist Suraj Bhan Singh was appointed working president.
Later that week, Bhan announced that Paras had been appointed the new president of the party.
Thereafter, five Lok Sabha MPs of the six in the party declared Paras as their leader.
The Lok Sabha secretariat issued a notification after that, recognising Paras as the parliamentary party chief.
A LJP leader told HT that Paswan's meeting on Sunday was key to establish that while he's lost support of the parliamentary party, he still has support of the executive.
He also said that the outcome of the meeting may be used to fight Paswan's case in the EC.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times)
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