The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will start its political campaign on Sunday with party president Mayawati arriving in the city on Sunday.

After covering Pune and Mumbai on October 4, she will address rallies in Parbhani in Marathwada and Nagpur in the Vidarbha region on October 8 for 282 candidates contesting for the Assembly elections in the state.

Having polled 4.16 votes for 2004 Assembly elections, the BSP is hopeful of bettering its performance and garnering at least 8 per cent polling for these elections. “We have the largest number of candidates for the elections. We hope at least 13 should win. For Pune, we hope at least three would win,” said BSP state president Vilas Garud.

In the Lok Sabha elections, the BSP had got 5.15 per cent votes in Pune and an average of 3.06 per cent in the state. They are hoping that Mayawati’s presence in the campaign will help them better that result. In the Lok Sabha polls, BSP finished third in 20 of the 48 seats. It is the Vidarbha region where the party has made significant presence where they averaged almost 7 per cent each in 11 parliamentary seats.

“In 2004, she had conducted several sabhas as a result of which three candidates from Gadchiroli, Hingoli and Solapur came second and 82 candidates had come third,” said Garud. He said this time they did not campaign much on purpose, adding, “We were maintaining low profile. We believe in good work rather than show of strength.” Taking about the alliances, he said no party addresses the real issues.