BSP-SP alliance in Uttar Pradesh announced: to contest 38 seats each, with 2 seats for Congress and 2 for other parties

The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chiefs Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati today announced their alliance in a joint press conference.

Out of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, they will contest 38 seats each in the coming Lok Sabha polls, leaving two seats to the Congress to contest from Amethi and Rae Bareilli and two other seats will be left for other smaller parties, Mayawati announced.

She said alliance with the Congress didn’t serve the purpose of defeating the opponents because from past experience it has been noted that the votes are not transferred to them. We ensure transfer of vote to the Congress, but they don’t reciprocate, Mayawati said at the press conference. She noted that perhaps this was a conspiracy to transfer the votes to the BJP. And therefore, the two parties – SP and BSP – were going for an alliance for the coming Lok Sabha polls to ensure a certain defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “Unless the EVM machines are tampered with, our victory is certain,” she said.

Mayawati added that the alliance had taken final shape at a meeting in Delhi earlier this month. She said that now, even the seats to be shared had been finalised and would be announced shortly. According to Mayawati, there have been attempts to break the alliance from the start, but it had reached a stage from where there was no chance it would break.

Akhilesh Yadav said that there was an atmosphere of fear that gripped Uttar Pradesh and people need relief from that.