Key facts
- Nishad Party and SBSP have asked the BJP for an early seat-sharing agreement for Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
- The demand was raised at an NDA conclave in New Delhi and reiterated at BJP headquarters.
- BJP leaders assured the allies their concerns would be considered.
- A meeting is expected after June 21, following events marking 12 years of the Modi government.
Ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, two smaller allies within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the Nishad Party and the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), have formally requested the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to finalize seat-sharing arrangements well in advance.
Leaders from both parties, including Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad and SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar, raised this issue during an NDA conclave in New Delhi. They reiterated their demand for an early seat-sharing formula during subsequent meetings at the BJP headquarters with party president Nitin Nabin and general secretary Sunil Bansal.
The BJP leadership assured the allies that their demands would be considered and indicated that a meeting to discuss the specifics would likely occur after June 21, following the conclusion of events celebrating 12 years of the Modi government.
In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the Nishad Party contested 16 seats, with six candidates running under the BJP symbol, and secured 11 victories. The SBSP, which allied with the Samajwadi Party in 2022, contested 19 seats and won six before its leader, Rajbhar, later joined the NDA.