The parties of Defence Minister George Fernandes and his predecessor Mulayam Singh Yadav have just one member each in the 320-member Assembly in the state, the former having it only technically.

Samata Party, which has decided to go it alone in 55 seats after the BJP spurned its seat-sharing offer and Samajwadi Party which would contest 50 seats on its own, face bleak prospects in the polls, according to political observers.

Samata Party which had sought 10 seats from BJP in the state would find the goings extremely tough to even hold on to its only Paraswada seat in Balaghat district particularly when the sitting MLA from here and former state party chief Kanker Munjare has recently quit the party. Technically, however, Munjare continues to be a Samata Party MLA.

Munjare, who waselected in 1993 on Krantikari Samajwadi Manch ticket securing 25,100 votes before he joined Samata Party, had quit the party further shrinking its already marginal support base in the state.

The newly appointed chief of Samata Party's state unit, former MP Kanhaiyalal Dungarwal, however, claimed that his party is set to emerge as a third force and faces challenge from Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) only in this regard which has 11 MLAs.

Political observers, however, describe Dungarwal's claim as exaggerated saying it would be the candidates and not the party which would poll whatever votes they get.

The position of the Samajwadi Party is no different. All its 110 party candidates lost their deposits in 1993 Assembly polls securing a meagre 0.49 per cent votes.

However, its candidate Vijay Bahadur Singh won from Chandla seat in the Assembly by-polls in March this year after the sitting Congress MLA Satyawrat Chaturvedi resigned.

The party is concentrating particularly on this seat besides striving tomake inroads into other constituencies particularly where Muslims, Christians and OBCs can influence the results.

Yadav also spoke on similar lines at his election meetings in Sagar and Guna on Friday assuring the welfare of Muslims, Christians and OBCs urging them to defeat BJP rather than Congress.