After SP and BSP, now RLD says it will contest UP by-polls

Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have announced that they will contest the by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, now the third alliance partner Rashtriya Lok Dal says it will also be in fray.

“It is Mayawati ji who exited the alliance for the by-polls. We were ally of the Samajwadi Party and not of the BSP in the gathbandhan. We will definitely contest the by-polls on some seats. The party with its top leaders will decide about the number of seats it will contest and how,” said the RLD state president Masood Ahmed.

The RLD leader said the seats his party contested in the Lok Sabha polls were all from the SP quota.

Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party had contested the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the BSP and the RLD against the BJP. Of the 80 seats in UP, BSP contested 38 seats, SP 37, and RLD 3.

The BSP was the only party in the alliance which managed to improve its 2014 tally, it won 10 seats in 2019 against zero last time. The SP won five seats, the same as 2014, while RLD failed to open its account as in 2014.

The by-polls were necessitated because eleven UP MLAs were elected as MPs in the Lok Sabha polls. Of the 11MLAs, nine are from BJP, one each from SP and BSP.