Bahujan Samaj Party

Bahujan Samaj Party
बहुजन समाज पार्टी
Chairperson Mayawati
Secretary-General

Suresh Mane

Satish Chandra Mishra
Lok Sabha leader None
Rajya Sabha leader Mayawati
Founded 1984
Headquarters 12, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road,
New Delhi - 110001
Newspaper Mayayug,[1] Bahujan Samaj Bulletin (Punjabi)[2]
Student wing Bahujan Samaj Student's Forum
Youth wing BSP Yuva Morcha
Ideology Dalit Socialism
Secularism
Social Engineering
Colours   Blue
ECI Status National Party[3]
Seats in Lok Sabha
0 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha
10 / 245
Seats in the Legislative Assembly
80 / 403
Election symbol
Website
bspindia.org
Politics of India
Political parties
Elections

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is a national political party in India. It was formed mainly to represent Bahujans (literally meaning "People in majority"), referring to people from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes (OBC) as well as minorities. The party claims to be inspired by the philosophy of B. R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule & Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj. The BSP was founded by a charismatic leader Kanshi Ram in 1984, who was succeeded by his protege Mayawati in 2003. The party's political symbol is an Elephant. The party was the third most-voted party in the 2014 Indian general election, but still failed to win any seat in the 16th Lok Sabha.[4] The BSP has its main base in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Origin of the word "Bahujan"

The Pali word Bahujan is notably found in the literature of Buddhist texts. Gautama Buddha used this word to guide his disciples to work for the "Bahujan Hitay Bahujan Sukhay" (Meaning: Benefit and prosperity of majority people). Another meaning of the word Bahujan is people in majority. However the BSP has historically drawn a loyal base of voters from Dalits. It has attempted to grow nationally as well, but has met limited success so far.

History

BSP was founded in 1983 by Kanshi Ram
Bahujan Samaj Party claims to represent the low and lowly. A man carrying the BSP flag.

The party was founded in 1983 by Kanshi Ram. Due to his deteriorating health in the 1990s, former school teacher Mayawati became the party's leader. The party's power grew quickly with seats in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly and India's Lower House of Parliament. In 1993, following the assembly elections, Mayawati formed a coalition with Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav as Chief Minister. In mid-1995, she withdrew support from his government, which led to a major incident where Mulayam Singh Yadav was accused of keeping her party legislators hostage to try to break her party. Since this, they have regarded each other publicly as chief rivals. Mayawati then sought the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to become Chief Minister on 3 June 1995. In October 1995 the BJP withdrew support to her and fresh elections were called after President's Rule.

Success in 2007 UP assembly elections

Flags of "Bahujan Samaj Party" at Shivaji Park.

The 11 May 2007, the Uttar Pradesh state assembly election results saw the BSP emerge as a single majority party, the first to do so since 1991. The BSP President Ms. Mayawati began her fourth term as Chief Minister of UP and took her oath of office along with 50 ministers of cabinet and state rank on 13 May 2007, at Rajbhawan in the state capital of Lucknow. Most importantly, the majority achieved in large part was due to the party's ability to take away majority of upper castes votes from their traditional party, the BJP.

BSP is now the third largest national party of India in terms of vote percentages as per 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, having 4.2% vote share across the country.

2012 UP assembly elections

The party could manage only 80 seats in 2012 as against 206 in 2007 assembly elections. BSP government was the first in the history of Uttar Pradesh to complete its full five-year term.[5] On 11 July 2012, the party in a major revamp, replaced Swami Prasad Maurya by R A Rajbhar as President of UP Unit.[6]

Secret successor of Mayawati

On 9 August 2009, Mayawati declared that she had chosen a successor from the Dalit community who is 18–20 years her junior. She has penned down his name in a sealed packet left in the safe custody of two of her close confidantes. The name of the successor will be disclosed on her death.[7]

Lok Sabha (Lower House)

Lok Sabha Term Indian
General Election		 Seats
Contested		 Seats
won		 % of
Votes		 % of Votes in
seats contested		 State ( seats )
09th Lok Sabha 1989 245 03 2.07 4.53 Punjab ( 1 )
Uttar Pradesh ( 2 )
10th Lok Sabha 1991 231 02 1.61 3.64 Madhya_Pradesh(1)
Uttar Pradesh ( 1 )
11th Lok Sabha 1996 210 11 4.02 11.21 Madhya Pradesh(2)
Punjab ( 3 )
Uttar Pradesh ( 6 )
12th Lok Sabha 1998 251 05 4.67 9.84 Haryana ( 1 )
Uttar Pradesh ( 4 )
13th Lok Sabha 1999 225 14 4.16 9.97 Uttar Pradesh (14)
14th Lok Sabha 2004 435 19 5.33 6.66 Uttar Pradesh (19)
15th Lok Sabha 2009 500 21 6.17 6.56 Madhya Pradesh(1)
Uttar Pradesh (20)
16th Lok Sabha 2014 503 0 4.3 NA

Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha (Lower House)

Vidhan Sabha Term UP
Elections		 Seats
Contested		 Seats
won		 % of
Votes		 % of Votes in
seats contested
12th Vidhan Sabha 1993 164 67 11.12 28.52
13th Vidhan Sabha 1996 296 67 19.64 27.73
14th Vidhan Sabha 2002 401 98 23.06 23.19
15th Vidhan Sabha 2007 403 206 30.43 30.43
16th Vidhan Sabha 2012 403 80 25.95 25.95

Other states where BSP has a presence

Bihar Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term Bihar
General Election		 Seats
Contested		 Seats
won		 % of
Votes		 % of Votes in
seats contested
10th Vidhan Sabha 1990 164 0 0.73 1.41
11th Vidhan Sabha 1995 161 2 1.34 2.66
12th Vidhan Sabha 2000 249 5 1.89 2.47
13th Vidhan Sabha Feb. 2005 238 2 4.41 4.50
14th Vidhan Sabha Oct. 2005 212 4 4.17 4.75
15th Vidhan Sabha 2010 243 0 3.21 3.27

Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term Chhattisgarh
General Election		 Seats
Contested		 Seats
won		 % of
Votes		 % of Votes in
seats contested
2nd Vidhan Sabha 2003 54 2 4.45 9.4
3rd Vidhan Sabha 2008 90 2 6.11 6.11
4th Vidhan Sabha 2013 90 1 4.27 4.29

Delhi Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term Delhi
General Election		 Seats
Contested		 Seats
won		 % of
Votes		 % of Votes in
seats contested
1st Vidhan Sabha 1993 55 0 1.88 2.42
2nd Vidhan Sabha 1998 58 0 3.09 3.63
3rd Vidhan Sabha 2003 40 0 5.76 8.96
4th Vidhan Sabha 2008 69 2 14.05 14.05
5th Vidhan Sabha 2013 69 0 5.33 5.44
6th Vidhan Sabha 2015 70 0 1.3 1.3

Haryana Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term Haryana
General Election		 Seats
Contested		 Seats
won		 % of
Votes		 % of Votes in
seats contested
8th Vidhan Sabha 1991 26 1 2.32 7.67
9th Vidhan Sabha 1996 67 0 5.44 7.2
10th Vidhan Sabha 2000 83 1 5.74 6.22
11th Vidhan Sabha 2005 84 1 3.22 3.44
12th Vidhan Sabha 2009 86 1 6.73 7.05
13th Vidhan Sabha 2014 87 1[8] 4.37[9] 4.52

Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term Himachal Pradesh
General Election		 Seats
Contested		 Seats
won		 % of
Votes		 % of Votes in
seats contested
7th Vidhan Sabha 1990 35 0 0.94 1.76
8th Vidhan Sabha 1993 49 0 2.25 3.0
9th Vidhan Sabha 1998 28 0 1.41 3.28
10th Vidhan Sabha 2003 23 0 0.7 2.02
11th Vidhan Sabha 2007 67 1 7.40 7.37
12th Vidhan Sabha 2012 67 0 1.7 2.02

Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term Madhya Pradesh
General Election		 Seats
Contested		 Seats
won		 % of
Votes		 % of Votes in
seats contested
9th Vidhan Sabha 1990 183 2 3.54 5.89
10th Vidhan Sabha 1993 286 2 7.05 7.86
11th Vidhan Sabha 1998 170 11 6.15 11.39
12th Vidhan Sabha 2003 157 2 7.26 10.62
13th Vidhan Sabha 2008 230 7 8.97 9.29
14th Vidhan sabha 2013 227 4 6.29 6.42

Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term Maharashtra
General Election		 Seats
Contested		 Seats
won		 % of
Votes		 % of Votes in
seats contested
8th Vidhan Sabha 1990 122 0 0.42 0.98
9th Vidhan Sabha 1995 145 0 1.49 2.82
10th Vidhan Sabha 1999 83 0 0.39 1.24
11th Vidhan Sabha 2004 272 0 4.0 4.18
12th Vidhan Sabha 2009 287 0 2.35 2.42
13th Vidhan Sabha 2014 260[10] 0 2.3[11]

Punjab Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term Punjab
General Election		 Seats
Contested		 Seats
won		 % of
Votes		 % of Votes in
seats contested
10th Vidhan Sabha 1992 105 9 16.32 17.59
11th Vidhan Sabha 1997 67 1 7.48 13.28
12th Vidhan Sabha 2002 100 0 5.69 6.61
13th Vidhan Sabha 2007 115 0 4.13 4.17
14th Vidhan Sabha 2012 117 0 4.28 4.28

Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term Rajasthan
General Election		 Seats
Contested		 Seats
Won		 % of
Votes		 % of Votes in
seats contested
9th Vidhan Sabha 1990 205 0 0.79 2.54
10th Vidhan Sabha 1993 50 0 0.56 2.01
11th Vidhan Sabha 1998 108 2 2.17 3.81
12th Vidhan Sabha 2003 124 2 3.97 6.40
13th vidhan sabha 2008 199 6 7.60 7.66
14th vidhan sabha 2013 199 3 3.37 3.48

Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term Uttarakhand
General Election		 Seats
Contested		 Seats
Won		 % of
Votes		 % of Votes in
seats contested
1st Vidhan Sabha 2002 68 7 10.93 11.20
2nd Vidhan Sabha 2007 69 8 11.76 11.76
3rd Vidhan Sabha 2012 70 3 12.19 12.19

Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term Jharkhand
General Election		 Seats
Contested		 Seats
won		 % of
Votes		 % of Votes in
seats contested
3rd Vidhan Sabha 2009 78 0 2.44 2.55[12]
4th Vidhan Sabha 2014 41[13] 1[14] 1.4 1.8

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Mayawati will announce the beginning of Maya Yug".
  2. ↑ "Bahujan Samaj Bulletin, as it is being called will be the party’s mouth piece on issues relating to it. The editor of the newspaper will be Mayawati.".
  3. ↑ "List of Political Parties and Election Symbols main Notification Dated 18.01.2013" (PDF). India: Election Commission of India. 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  4. ↑ ZeeNews. Lok Sabha polls: Parties corner vote share, but fail to win seats
  5. ↑ http://eciresults.nic.in/PartyWiseResult.htm
  6. ↑ "BSP replaces U.P. chief". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 12 July 2012.
  7. ↑ "Mayawati talks of a secret successor : India". Nerve.in. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  8. ↑ "Tek Chand Sharma won the lone seat for the party from the Prithla seat in Faridabad by a margin of 1,179 votes".
  9. ↑ "ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA GENERAL\BYE ELECTION TO LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLIES TRENDS & RESULT 2014".
  10. ↑ "BSP had contested on 260 seats in Maharashtra.".
  11. ↑ "ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA GENERAL\BYE ELECTION TO LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLIES TRENDS & RESULT 2014".
  12. ↑ "2009 - Election Commission of India" (PDF).
  13. ↑ "41 in Jharkhand".
  14. ↑ "Bahujan Samaj Party makes debut with 1/81 score".

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