Mayawati lists 7 nominees from Bihar for Lok Sabha polls Next Year

PATNA: In terms of poll preparedness, Mayawati’s BSP is certainly ahead of other parties. In Bihar, it has even declared its nominees for seven out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats, giving the candidates sufficient time to campaign for their political cause. While it is not clear on how many seats the BSP will contest in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party’s announcement of the nominees for seven seats looked somewhat surprising given the fact that the election is still some distance away. “We have decided to release the names of the candidates at the behest of Behenji,” said state BSP in-charge Chandra Ahirwar .

Both the BSP and the SP, whose political influence is largely discernible in UP, have been taking lead in announcing their nominees much ahead of the elections. But it was a practice both the parties would be willing to adopt in UP, which held huge political sweepstakes for them.

In fact, the SP in UP has announced the first list of 55 candidates for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, But in case of Bihar, neither the BSP nor the SP had released the list in the past at an early stage.

The BSP by releasing the list for 7 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar has therefore surprised the political pundits who are of the view that the BSP at best can play the role of vote katwa (spoiler ) for other political parties. The truth is the BSP was just strong enough to polarise the voters in some assembly constituencies, enabling it to win few odd seats in the past. But in the 2010 assembly elections, it drew a blank like so many other fringe parties which were swept away by the Nitish tornado .

Now with Nitish Kumar cementing his position among the Mahadaltis, the BSP which has support base mainly among the dalits will be now confronted with a far bigger challenge on the political turf of Bihar.