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BSP's Unravelling: Once a third force, now hurtling towards zero MPs
The Bahujan Samaj Party, a former national third force, faces parliamentary absence for the first time. Once a significant player, the BSP drew a blank in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Its last MP's term ends in November 2026. The party's future hinges on the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
New Delhi: For nearly two decades, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) occupied a rare political space as the most credible national third force outside the Congress-BJP binary. Anchored in Dalit assertion and Uttar Pradesh politics, it rose to become the country's third-largest party by vote share in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. After drawing a blank in 2024, the BSP is now headed towards having no MP in Parliament for the first time since its emergence in the late 1980s.
The party's last remaining parliamentarian, Rajya Sabha MP Ramji Gautam, completes his term in November 2026. His exit would snap an uninterrupted parliamentary presence that began when Kanshi Ram transformed the BSP into a disruptive national force. For a party that once shaped the grammar of power in Uttar Pradesh and influenced coalition arithmetic nationally, the decline is stark and symbolic.
At its peak, the BSP was far more than a regional player. In 2009, it won 21 Lok Sabha seats with a 6.17% vote share, emerging as the third largest party nationally. Even in 2014, amid the Narendra Modi wave, it retained 4.19% of the vote despite failing to win a seat. A tactical alliance in 2019 briefly revived its fortunes, delivering 10 MPs, but the downward trend resumed sharply in 2024, when its vote share slipped to 2.07% and seat tally fell to zero.
The contraction is striking given the party's once-expansive footprint. Beyond Uttar Pradesh, BSP MPs have been elected from Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, while its MLAs have come from across the Hindi heartland - including Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. For years, it was seen as a credible third pole in several states and a key ally in Haryana and Punjab, where regional forces such as the INLD and SAD partnered with it. The party has also managed to elect an MLA in Bihar in recent elections.
The BSP's political ambition peaked in 2007, when Mayawati won a full majority in Uttar Pradesh. The slogan "UP hamari hai, ab Dilli ki baari hai" captured a moment when national power appeared within reach.
With Ramji Gautam's RS term ending in Nov, BSP is set to lose its last parliamentary presence, ending an unbroken run since Kanshi Ram's rise
Despite its electoral decline, the BSP continues to hold sway over its core Jatav Dalit vote base in Uttar Pradesh, ensuring relevance beyond its shrinking seat tally. Several opposition parties still view it as a potential ally whose vote-transfer capacity can influence outcomes, especially in contests against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and nationally.
Mayawati has recently signalled renewed political activity after a period of organisational inertia, making the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections crucial for the party's future. Whether this re-emergence can arrest the decline remains uncertain. What is clear is that a movement that once redefined Dalit assertion in Indian politics is now on the brink of complete parliamentary absence.
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Source: EconomicTimes
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