SP keeps 85 seats, NCP’s Anwar is face of alliance in polls

The strategy is that projecting Tariq Anwar, the front’s Muslim face during the elections, can damage the Muslim vote bank of the grand alliance.

NCP leader Tariq Anwar (right) has been appointed leader of the SSF and will head its election effort. Pappu Yadav’s (left) party gets the second highest share with 64 seats.

The Samajwadi Party, which quit the grand alliance in Bihar after being offered only five seats, will now contest 85 seats, the lion’s share in the Samajwadi Secular Front (SSF) of six parties. Pappu Yadav’s party gets the second highest share with 64 seats.

NCP leader Tariq Anwar has been appointed leader of the SSF and will head its election effort. “He has been elected leader until the elections are over, but we will contest in the name of Mulayam Singh Yadav,” Kiranmoy Nanda, the SP’s Bihar-in-charge, told The Indian Express. The strategy is that projecting Tariq Anwar, the front’s Muslim face during the elections, can damage the Muslim vote bank of the grand alliance.

[related-post]

Although the second largest chunk goes to Pappu Yadav’s Jan Adhikar Manch, the SP distanced itself from a recent statement he made. “We have heard that Pappu has said a Muslim will be the chief ministerial candidate of the front but we distance ourselves from that statement. As per our plan, the elected legislators will choose their leader after the polls,” Nanda said.

Story continues below this ad

Nanda said several other parties are approaching the front for inclusion but no new party can be accommodated now. “They can, however, support the front,” Nanda said. Ramchandra Yadav, state president of the SP’s Bihar unit, said two such parties, Awami Insaf Morcha and Sarvjan Kalyan Party, have already extended their support.

The NCP will contest 40 seats, the Samras Samaj Party of former Union minister Nagmani 28, former Union minister Devendra Prasad Yadav’s new party SJD(D) 23, and P A Sangma’s Nationalist Peoples Party three.