Mayawati not to contest 2019 Lok Sabha polls

By KalingaTV Bureau Last updated Mar 20, 2019 0

Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Wednesday announced that she would not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Addressing a press conference here Mayawati today said, “In view of the present circumstances and the need of the country and the interests of the party, the movement and the public, it is the need of the hour that I do not contest the Lok Sabha polls. And this is the reason that I have decided not to contest the Lok Sabha polls.”

However, Mayawati said that she would contest later if needed.

The Dalit leader also asked party workers to not get disheartened with her decision.

When I became UP CM first time in 1995 I was not member of either UP Assembly or Council. Similarly is provision at the Centre where a person have to be a LS/RS member within 6 months of holding office of minister/PM. Don't disheartened from my decision not to contest LS poll now
— Mayawati (@Mayawati) March 20, 2019

The BSP has teamed up with its bitter rival Samajwadi Party of Akhilesh Yadav to take on the BJP in Uttar Pradesh in the national polls from April 11 to May 19. Both parties will contest 38 seats each in Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 parliamentary constituencies.