lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Mar 15, 2019 12:11 IST

The Samajwadi Party has announced its first candidate for 2019 Lok Sabha elections outside Uttar Pradesh as part of its alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party. The SP on Friday announced candidate on one of the three seats that have come to its quota in Madhya Pradesh.

The SP will contest three of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh. These seats are, Balaghat, Tikammgarh, and Khajuraho. “Ratiram Bansal is our candidate on Tikamgarh (MP Lok Sabha constituency number 6),” said an SP spokesperson.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)-Samajwadi Party (SP) alliance on February 15 announced a poll pact to fight Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand with the former establishing a dominant position in the seat-sharing arrangement. The SP will contest three of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh while the BSP contest the rest.

In Uttarakhand, which has five Lok Sabha seats, the SP will contest the Garhwal (Pauri) seat and the BSP will fight in three constituencies, according to a joint statement by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati

The SP-BSP alliance has officially spread to three states. The two parties had announced their alliance on January 13 in Lucknow. The Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand seat division announcement came a week after the two parties announced seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh where the BSP will contest 38 seats and the SP will fight in 37.

After leaving the Congress out of the poll pact, Akhilesh Yadav said earlier this month that the grand-old-party was part of the alliance and two seats were given to it. While announcing their alliance Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav had said that the alliance would not field candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareli parliamentary constituencies, represented by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi respectively.

On Tuesday, Mayawati announced that her party will not have any pact with the Congress in any state. This was a signal that the Congress will not be made part of the SP-BSP alliance in Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand.