The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have formed an alliance for the 2022 Punjab Assembly election on Saturday. "It's a new day in Punjab politics," said SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal as he announced the alliance.
He added that of 117 seats, BSP will contest on 20 seats, while SAD will contest the remaining 97 seats.
"It's a historic day as the alliance has been formed with Shiromani Akali Dal, which is Punjab's biggest party. In 1986, both BSP & SAD jointly fought Lok Sabha polls and emerged victorious on 11 of 13 seats. This time the alliance won't be broken," BSP MP Satish Mishra said.
Among the seats which the BSP will contest are Kartarpur Sahib in Jalandhar, Jalandhar-West, Jalandhar-North, Phagwara, Hoshiarpur Urban, Dasuya, Chamkaur Sahib in Rupnagar district, Bassi Pathana, Sujanpur in Pathankot, Mohali, Amritsar North and Amritsar Central.
The SAD earlier had a tie-up with the BJP and the Badal-led party walked out of the NDA over the farm laws issue last year.
The BJP used to contest 23 seats under its alliance with the SAD.
