BSP to Contest on 38 and SP on 37 seats in UP

Lucknow, Feb 21: The two leading party of the largest state of the country(by population) has decided about the seat sharing for the upcoming general election. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav have decided that SP will contest on 37 seats while BSP will fight on 38 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2019. SP will contest the Varanasi seat (held by PM Modi), but neither party will field any candidate from the Congress bastions of Rae Bareli and Amethi. The RLD is likely to get 5 seats.


Announcing the alliance, BSP chief Mayawati had said last month that the Congress was not included in the alliance because during the Congress rule poverty, unemployment and corruption had grown and there had been scams in various defense deals. She also said that in case of a tie-up with the Congress in the past, the party did not benefit.


"In the past, I have seen that our votes get transferred to the Congress, but not vice-versa. We do not gain from an alliance with Congress, whereas vote transfer is perfect in SP-BSP tie-up, Mayawati said.


Drawing a parallel between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, Mayawati said the Congress had imposed the Emergency while the BJP is responsible for an undeclared Emergency.


In 2014, the BJP had won 71 seats in Uttar Pradesh while its ally Apna Dal bagged two. The Samajwadi Party won 5 seats and the Congress two, while the BSP drew a blank.