BSP To Form Alliance With Chautala's INLD For Haryana Assembly Elections, Eyes Dalit And Jat Votes

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is set to announce its alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) for the Haryana Assembly elections, expected to be held in October this year.

A joint press conference in Chandigarh on 11 July will officially announce this alliance. This comes after INLD general secretary Abhay Chautala met BSP supremo Mayawati in New Delhi on Saturday (6 July).

Notably, INLD also formed an alliance with the BSP in 2018 but could not last for long. However, this alliance now wants to leverage the Dalit and Jat vote bank.

Jats in Haryana form 22 per cent of the population, while Dalits account for 21 per cent. However, their vote bank is not restricted to any single party in the state.

In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, the INLD got 1.74 per cent votes and the BSP 1.28 per cent. Their vote shares were higher in the 2019 Assembly elections.

The INLD won one seat and secured a vote share of 2.44 per cent in the Assembly election. The BSP could not win a single seat but its vote share was higher at 4.21 per cent.