Chhattisgarh Assembly Polls: BSP, Gondwana Gantantra Party Announce Alliance – News18

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) on Monday decided to contest the upcoming Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh in alliance.

While the BSP will field candidates on 53 seats, the GGP will fight 37 seats in the 90-member House, a functionary of the Mayawati-led party here said.

BSP Rajya Sabha MP and national coordinator Ramji Gautam and GGP national general secretary Shyam Singh Markam and other leaders of the two parties announced the alliance during a press conference, BSP state unit chief Hemant Poyam told PTI.

“As per the seat-sharing pact, BSP and GGP will contest on 53 and 37 seats, respectively. The alliance will defeat the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress,” he claimed.

The BSP released its first list of nine candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls last month.

It had contested the 2018 Assembly elections in alliance with Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and Communist Party of India and had polled 3.87 per cent of the total votes.

In 2018, BSP had contested on 35 seats and won Jaijaipur and Pamgarh constituencies, both located in Janjgir-Champa district of central Chhattisgarh. Its candidates lost deposits in 28 seats.

Its ally JCC (J) bagged five seats. The GGP had unsuccessfully contested 38 seats in 2018, with 36 candidates failing to save their deposits. The GGP had secured 1.73 percent votes in the previous election.

While the BSP has considerable influence among the Scheduled Caste population in central Chhattisgarh, GGP once enjoyed a support base in certain tribal-dominated parts of Bilaspur and Surguja divisions.

According to poll observers, BSP and GGP could dent the vote bank of the ruling Congress.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)