BSP gets lion's share in West UP, to contest 11 Lok Sabha seats, 7 goes to SP, 4 to RLD: Sources

The Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)-led grand alliance has finalised the seat-sharing formula for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in West Uttar Pradesh. According to sources, Mayawati's BSP has got the lion's share in West UP and will contest 11 of the total 22 Lok Sabha seats. Akhilesh Yadav's SP will get seven seats in the West UP, while Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) will contest four seats. As per the seat-sharing formula reached, the 11 Lok Sabha seats where Mayawati’s party will contest in West UP are - Gautam Budha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Saharanpur, Amroha, Bijnor, Nagina, Bulandshahr, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Aligarh. 

While Kairana, Muradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Mainpuri, Ferozabad, and Etah are the seven seats where SP will field its candidates, Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Mathura and Hathras Parliamentary constituencies will be contested by RLD. Ajit Singh, the chief of RLD, will contest from his traditional stronghold Baghpat while his son and the party national vice-president, Jayant Choudhary will once again fight from Mathura. In 2014, Jayant had lost to BJP's Hema Malini.

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On January 12, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati had announced their alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. This is the first time in 26 years that SP and BSP will fight the elections together. Last time, it happened in 1993, when Samajwadi Party veteran Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram came together and formed a government in the state.

Both Akhilesh's SP and Mayawati’s BSP will contest 38 seats each. The alliance partners said they will leave two seats - Amethi and Rae Bareli - for the Congress party with including them in the alliance. Rest two seats, they said, will be given to smaller allies.

However, Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday agreed to give the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) four Lok Sabha seats against the six demanded by its national vice-president Jayant Chaudhary. According to sources, a formal announcement regarding this will be made after discussions with BSP supremo Mayawati.

HIGHLIGHTS

• BSP will get more seats in West UP where it has a strong base.
• Ajit Singh's RLD is likely to get 4 seats in West UP.
• Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati have formed a coalition for LS polls.