In Jalandhar, BSP again banks on Balwinder, had finished 3rd in 2019

BSP state unit chief Jasvir Singh Garhi said Balwinder Kumar aims to “expose the counterfeit Dalit” candidates being feilded by various political parties. He also accused the Congress of :consistently deceiving the Dalit community”, a trend, which he said, BSP “is combatting nationwide”.

Balwinder Kumar had contested the Vidhan Sabha elections from Kartarpur in 2017 and 2022, and Lok Sabha election from Jalandhar in 2019. He had garnered more than two lakh votes or 20 per cent of total votes polled and finished third. The election was won by Congress’ Chaudhary Santokh Singh.
In the bypoll to the same seat in 2023, necessitated by the death of Santokh Singh, the SAD-BSP alliance had again secured the third position with 1.58 lakh votes (or 17.85 per cent of the total polled).

According to data from the Punjab Election Office, BSP, in Jalandhar, had garnered 15% vote share in the 1992 Lok Sabha election. The figure dipped to 0.9% in 1998 and 9.14% in 2004. In 2009, the vote share was 10.40%, reaching a low of 4.5% in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, before bouncing back to 20% in 2019.

Chharbarh had contested Punjab Assembly elections in 2012 and 2017 from Rajpura and Ghanaur segments respectively.

The BSP, which has announced to go solo in the parliamentary polls, had earlier declared candidates for Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur and Sangrur Lok Sabha seats. It has feilded party general secretary Makhan Singh from Sangrur. Makhan Singh had retired as the deputy director of the state health department.

The party has named Surinder Kamboj for Firozepur, and Rakesh Kumar Summan from Hoshiarpur, and said that remaining candidates would be announced soon.

In 2014, the BSP had contested all 13 seats in Punjab and could secure only 2.63 lakh votes. The party was on fourth spot on seven seats, sixth on two seats and fifth on two seats. It later entered into an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal and as part of the seat-sharing pact, had fielded candidates from Anandpur Sahib, Hoshiarpur (reserve) and Jalandhar (reserve) seats in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The party had sprung a surprise by finishing third on all three seats, doing better than the Aam Aadmi Party, which at that time was the principal opposition party in Punjab. The AAP had finished fourth on these three seats.

In Hoshiarpur, party candidate Khushi Ram had secured over 1.28 lakh votes. At that time, Capt Amarinder Singh, who was the chief minister, had blamed the defeat of the Congress candidate on “shifting of votes to the BSP”.

Though Congress romped home to impressive victory by winning eight out of 13 Lok Sabha seats, Amarinder had said shifting of Dalit votes to the BSP had affected the winning margins of some party candidates.

From the Anandpur Sahib, BSP’s Vikram Singh Sodhi had secured 1.46 lakh votes, finishing third.

BSP traditionally had had a strong presence in the Doaba region’s Lok Sabha constituencies, including Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur, but its support base has fragmented over time. The party previously enjoyed significant support among the Ravidassia and Adi-Dharmi communities, both of which have since splintered, aligning with various political parties.

The party, which has been witnessing erosion of its vote bank in Punjab, had garnered a vote share of 3.49 per cent — it polled 4.79 lakh votes — in 2019, improving upon its tally of 1.9 per cent in 2014. Its 2019 vote share was was better than that of the CPI and the CPM.