Chhattisgarh elections: BSP, Gondwana Gantantra Party announce alliance

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) announced on Monday that they will contest the upcoming Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh in alliance. An official stated that the BSP will field candidates in 53 seats, while the GGP will contest 37 seats in the 90-member House.

BSP state unit chief Hemant Poyam remarked, "In line with the seat-sharing pact, the BSP and the GGP will contest on 53 and 37 seats, respectively. The alliance aims to defeat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition Congress."

Last month, the BSP released its first list of nine candidates for the forthcoming Assembly polls. The party had participated in the 2018 Assembly elections in alliance with Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and the Communist Party of India (CPI), securing 3.87 per cent of the total votes. The Mayawati-led party contested 35 seats and emerged victorious in Jaijaipur and Pamgarh constituencies, while the JCC(J) won five seats.

In the 2018 elections, the GGP contested 38 seats and captured 1.73 per cent of the total votes.

On August 9, the BSP released a list of nine candidates for this year's first phase of Assembly elections. Keshav Prasad Chandra from Jaijaipur and Indu Banjare from Pamgarh have been renominated.

Below is the list of the nine BSP candidates:

Dauram Ratnakar (Masturi seat: reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates)

Omprakash Bachpayee (Nawagarh: SC reserved)

Radheshyam Suryavanshi (Janjgir-Champa)

Keshav Prasad Chandra (Jaijaipur)

Indu Banjare (Pamgarh)

Vinod Sharma (Akaltara)

Shyam Tandon Bilaigarh (Bilaigarh: SC reserved)

Ramkumar Suryavanshi (Beltara)

Anand Tigga (Samri: reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates)