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BSP to go solo in Punjab, U’khand, UP, says Mayawati
Mayawati made the announcement during a meeting with party office-bearers from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand at her Lucknow residence
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LUCKNOW
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Tuesday ruled out any alliance for the 2027 Punjab assembly elections, announcing that the party will contest the polls on its own. She said the BSP would also go solo in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, as the party seeks to strengthen its organisation and revive its electoral base across the three states.
Mayawati made the announcement during a meeting with party office-bearers from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand at her Lucknow residence.
Assembly elections in Punjab are due early next year.
Explaining the decision, Mayawati said the BSP would contest independently to prevent a possible decline in the party’s vote share and seat tally under electoral alliances, which she felt could adversely affect the morale of party workers.
In the 2022 Punjab assembly elections, the BSP allied with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD); and under this arrangement, the party contested 20 seats, while the SAD fielded candidates in 97 constituencies. The BSP won one seat — Nawanshahr — and polled 1.77% of the votes, while the SAD won three seats with 18.38% of the votes.
The BSP ended its alliance with the SAD on February 13, 2024, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Punjab holds particular importance for the BSP because it has the country’s highest proportion of Scheduled Caste population, at around 32%. It is also the birthplace of BSP founder Kanshi Ram.
The BSP’s electoral decline in Punjab has been sharp. The party secured nearly 16% of votes and nine assembly segments in 1992, but its vote share subsequently fell to around 1.5% in 2017 and rose only marginally to 1.77% in 2022. The party’s strongest performance in the state came in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, when it won three seats while allied with the SAD.
In Uttar Pradesh, the BSP will repeat its strategy of contesting the election independently. The party had fielded candidates in all 403 constituencies in 2022 but won only one seat, despite securing 12.88% of votes. Its candidates forfeited their deposits in 287 seats.
After the death of its lone MLA, Umashankar Singh of Rasra in Ballia, the BSP currently has no representation in the Uttar Pradesh assembly.
In Uttarakhand, the BSP contested 54 of the 70 seats in 2022 and won two, polling 4.82% votes. Its candidates lost their deposits in 49 constituencies.
Mayawati directed party leaders in all three states to strengthen the organisation down to the booth level and ensure that candidates selected for the 2027 elections are hardworking, honest, and committed to the party.
“Full preparations must be made to achieve better results in the upcoming Assembly election. We should boldly confront the opposition’s tactics of coercion, bribery, punishment, and discrimination,” she said.
She also directed party leaders to begin preparations for a major show of strength on October 9, the death anniversary of Kanshi Ram.
Mayawati further asked party workers and office-bearers to contribute financially to the organisation on her birthday on January 15 next year, which the BSP will observe as ‘People’s Welfare Day’. She said the financial support should be greater than last time to help carry forward the Ambedkarite movement and the BSP’s political campaign.
