lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Mar 20, 2019 11:49 IST

The BSP and SP have taken their alliance to the third state outside Uttar Pradesh. The two parties had already announced the pact and seat-sharing deal in Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand and now Maharashtra has been added to the list.

Of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party will contest 45 and Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party will fight on three.

A senior BSP leader confirmed the alliance and so did Abu Asim Azmi, the SP’s Maharashtra unit chief. “The alliance is final, while SP is trying to have more than three seats. Talks are going on,” Azmi said.

Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav had on January 12 jointly announced Uttar Pradesh poll pact and subsequently shared seats - BSP 38, SP 37, and RLD 3, and left two for the Congress. They announced the pact for Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand as well in February.

The BSP has assumed a dominant position in Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and now Maharashtra.

The SP will contest three of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh while the BSP contest the rest. Akhilesh Yadav’s party will contest Balaghat, Tikamgarh, and Khajuraho seats in Madhya Pradesh. It has already announced the candidate for the Tikamgarh seat. In Uttarakhand, which has five Lok Sabha seats, the SP will contest the Garhwal (Pauri) parliamentary constituency and the BSP will fight the rest.

Both the parties are also likely to extend the pact in Rajasthan as well on a handful of select seats.

Apart from the pact in these four states with the SP, Mayawati has an understanding with other parties in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Punjab, and Karnataka.

The BSP has tied up with Jana Sena Party (JSP), led by actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan, in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It has allied with the Janata Dal(Secular) in Karnataka, Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP) launched by rebel BJP leader Rajkumar Saini in Haryana and the Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA) constituting smaller parties like Punjabi Ekta party, Lok Insaaf Party and Akali Dal (Taksali).

The BSP is in also in talks for a pre-poll alliance with Ajit Jogi-led Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) in Chhattisgarh.