The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had decided not to rope in non-political figures or rebels from other parties for Assembly elections and give candidature only to its party workers in all the 288 constituencies across the state. The decision was taken at a meeting of the party leadership in Lucknow.

BSP Maharashtra chief Vilas Garud said, “Following the directions by the party leadership, we have restricted ourselves to giving candidature to loyal and hardworking party workers this time and not to any outsiders. There is no place for rebels in the BSP this time.”

He said, “The formula of social engineering is still intact, as the candidates hail from different social backgrounds. The party is only providing money for some basic campaign material like flags, while the rest of the expenditure will have to be managed by the candidate.”

The BSP is fielding candidates in every constituency and Garud expressed confidence that the party will win all of them.

“During the Lok Sabha election, a few of our candidates in some parts of the state created a bad picture of the party. While the BSP does not believe in buying votes, a few candidates, who did not belong to the party, indulged in activities like distributing money and alcohol and throwing parties. We have learnt a lesson, therefore the party leadership took a decision to give opportunity to party workers this time,” Kiran Alhat, BSP state general secretary said. “Even this time, many people, wanting to contest elections under the BSP flag, offered us money which we squarely refused.”

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