Panaji, May 17 (IANS): Former Goa Chief Minister and Congress General Secretary Luizinho Faleiro on Friday cited one of the Ten Commandments in the Bible - "Thou shalt not steal" - to blame the BJP for stealing the people's mandate in the 2017 state assembly elections.

Addressing a joint press conference her with two other Congress former Chief Ministers, Ravi Naik and Pratapsingh Rane, Faleiro also said that after the results of the four assembly bypolls are declared on May 23, the Congress would be in a position to reclaim the mandate and install its government in the coastal state.

"Thou shalt not steal... The BJP stole the people's mandate in the last election. What has been robbed and stolen, we will take it back in this by-election," Faleiro told reporters.

The Ten Commandments are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship which play an important role in Judaism and Christianity.

Faleiro was referring to the controversy that arose following the results of the 2017 state assembly election, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with its alliance partners, managed to successfully stake a claim to power, despite the Congress emerging as the single largest party with 17 seats in the 40-member state legislative assembly.

While the bypolls to three assembly seats - Shiroda, Mandrem and Mapusa - were held along with the elections to two Lok Sabha seats on April 23, bypolls to the Panaji assembly constituency will be held on May 19.

The current BJP-led coalition alliance in Goa rules with a slender majority in the assembly and the results of the four bypolls could have a significant impact on the future of the Pramod Sawant government.