SP and BSP to get such seats to contest in Lok Sabha polls where they fared second

New Delhi, Dec 27: Announcement made by Samajwadi Party chief and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav for the alliance without the Congress in Uttar Pradesh has actually solved many problems that might crop up for the alliance in seat sharing between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the state.

The main formula is likely to be that where the party was runners up, there it should contest the elections. It is being felt that this will also help to deal with the resentment of the party workers at the local level.

As far as 2014 Lok Sabha elections are concerned, the BSP was runners up at 34 Lok Sabha seats while the SP was runners up at 31 seats. There is no dispute over 65 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress was runners up on six LS seats while Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) on one seat each. On rest of the seven seats, the BJP was runners up.

The BJP had won 71 seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2014, its alliance partner Apna Dal got two seats. The Congress had won two seats while the SP got five seats but this has changed by the year 2019 as the BJP lost three Lok Sabha by-elections to Opposition and its seats have reduced to 68. The SP has seven seats at the moment while RLD has one.

The SP will claim all the seven seats where it has sitting MPs. But the way Akhilesh Yadav announced a non-Congress alliance in the state due to his anger against the Congress for its handling elections in three states and formation of the government, it is generally being looked upon that the SP, BSP and RLD will go fort an alliance.

BSP chief Mayawati is keeping an absolute silence over the alliance but her tough approach towards the Congress has made it clear its stand from the very beginning. She is also angry with the Congress for its approach towards the BSP in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Sources said that on such seats where other parties were second, cast equation, BJP and the Congress candidates will be under consideration before deciding the name of the candidate of the alliance. The source said that Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of the PM, Lucknow, Kanpur Ghaziabad, Barabanki, Kushinagar and Saharanpur and party may contest the election. However, the SP is likely to contest from Varanasi, Kanpur and Lucknow and the BSP from Ghaziabad, Kushinagar, Saharanpur and Barabanki.