BSP to contest all 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra

  • | Friday | 22nd February, 2019

The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is planning to contest all 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra in a quest for its maiden political opening. "We are contesting all 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. He added that in the Lok Sabha, the BSP would focus on constituencies in Vidarbha, where they have a committed vote base. Our district level functionaries are organising a review in their constituencies," said Suresh Sakhare, Maharashtra chief of the BSP. Despite the Shiv Sena and BJP sweeping all 11 Lok Sabha seats in Vidarbha, the BSP, which has been seen as a spoiler by the Congress and NCP in previous elections, managed to hold on to its base by getting around 95,000 votes in some seats.

The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is planning to contest all 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra in a quest for its maiden political opening. The party is planning to give a mix of Dalit and non-Dalit candidates in a bid to expand its electoral base. "We are contesting all 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. Our district level functionaries are organising a review in their constituencies," said Suresh Sakhare, Maharashtra chief of the BSP. He added that they had shortlisted three candidates in each constituency and the names would be finalised by their party supremo. Mayawati is also scheduled to hold rallies across Maharashtra and Sakhare said they would campaign on issues like their "social engineering" agenda, farmer distress and commercialisation of education. Despite the fact that the BSP's founder Kanshiram began his political activism from Pune, the party has drawn a blank in the Lok Sabha and assembly polls in spite of a committed cadre base and a transferable share of votes. However, in the 2014 assembly elections, the BSP's Kishore Gajbhiye was at number two in the Nagpur North constituency, which was represented by then Congress minister Nitin Raut. Despite the Shiv Sena and BJP sweeping all 11 Lok Sabha seats in Vidarbha, the BSP, which has been seen as a spoiler by the Congress and NCP in previous elections, managed to hold on to its base by getting around 95,000 votes in some seats. Sakhare said despite the BSP and Samajwadi Party (SP) tying up in Uttar Pradesh, these parties, who have their own pockets of support here, may not tie up in Maharashtra. He added that in the Lok Sabha, the BSP would focus on constituencies in Vidarbha, where they have a committed vote base. "The disgruntlement among the Republican Party of India (RPI) cadre about the brand of politics played by their leaders, will help us," claimed Sakhare.

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