The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is an Indian political party founded in 1984 to represent Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and religious minorities. It was founded by Kanshi Ram and is currently led by Mayawati. The BSP has had significant success in elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh, winning a majority in the state assembly in 2007. While it has a presence in other states, the BSP remains centered primarily in Uttar Pradesh.

2. INTRODUCTION
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP):- is a national
political party in India. It was formed mainly to
represent Bahujans (literally meaning "People in
majority"), referring to people from the Scheduled
Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes
(OBC) as well as minorities. The party claims to be
inspired by the philosophy of B. R. Ambedkar,
Mahatma Jyotiba Phule & Chhatrapati Shahuji
Maharaj.

3. Founder of BSP
The BSP was founded by a charismatic
leader Kanshi Ram in 1984, who was
succeeded by his protege Mayawati in 2003.

4. The party's political symbol is an Elephant.
The party was the third most-voted party in
the 2014 Indian general election, but still
failed to win any seat in the 16th Lok Sabha.
The BSP has its main base in the Indian
state of Uttar Pradesh.

5. HISTORY
The party was founded in 1983 by Kanshi Ram .
Due to his deteriorating health in the 1990s, former
school teacher Mayawati became the party's leader.
The party's power grew quickly with seats in the Uttar
Pradesh Legislative Assembly and India's Lower House
of Parliament.
In 1993, following the assembly elections, Mayawati
formed a coalition with Samajwadi Party President
Mulayam Yadav as Chief Minister.

6. In mid-1995, she withdrew support from his
government, which led to a major incident where
Mulayam Singh Yadav was accused of keeping her
party legislators hostage to try to break her party. Since
this, they have regarded each other publicly as chief
rivals. Mayawati then sought the support of the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to become Chief Minister
on 3 June 1995.
In October 1995 the BJP withdrew support to her and
fresh elections were called after President's Rule.

7. Success in 2007 UP assembly
elections
The 11 May 2007, the Uttar Pradesh state assembly
election results saw the BSP emerge as a single
majority party, the first to do so since 1991.
The BSP President Ms. Mayawati began her fourth
term as Chief Minister of UP and took her oath of
office along with 50 ministers of cabinet and state rank
on 13 May 2007, at Rajbhawan in the state capital of
Lucknow.
Most importantly, the majority achieved in large part
was due to the party's ability to take away majority of
upper castes votes from their traditional party, the BJP.

8. 2012 UP assembly elections
The party could manage only 80 seats as
against 206 in 2007 assembly elections. BSP
government was the first in the history of
Uttar Pradesh to complete its full five-year
term. On 11 July 2012, the party in a major
revamp, replaced Swami Prasad Maurya by
R A Rajbhar as President of UP Unit.

9. Secret successor of Mayawati
On 9 August 2009, Mayawati declared that
she had chosen a successor from the Dalit
community who is 18–20 years her junior.
She has penned down his name in a sealed
packet left in the safe custody of two of her
close confidantes. The name of the
successor will be disclosed on her death.

10. Lok Sabha Term
Indian
General Election
Seats
Contested
Seats
won
% of
Votes
% of Votes in
seats contested
State ( seats )
Vidhan Sabha
Term
UP
Elections
Seats
Contested
Seats
won
% of
Votes
% of Votes in
seats contested
10 th Lok Sabha 1991 231 02 1.61 3.64
Madhya_Pradesh(1
)
Uttar Pradesh ( 1 )
09 th Lok Sabha 1989 245 03 2.07 4.53
Punjab ( 1 )
Uttar Pradesh ( 2 )
11 th Lok Sabha 1996 210 11 4.02 11.21
Madhya
Pradesh(2)
Punjab ( 3 )
Uttar Pradesh ( 6 )
13 th Lok Sabha 1999 225 14 4.16 9.97 Uttar Pradesh (14)
16 th Lok Sabha 2014 503 0 4.3 NA
12 th Lok Sabha 1998 251 05 4.67 9.84
Haryana ( 1 )
Uttar Pradesh ( 4 )
14 th Lok Sabha 2004 435 19 5.33 6.66 Uttar Pradesh (19)
15 th Lok Sabha 2009 500 21 6.17 6.56
Madhya Pradesh(1)
Uttar Pradesh (20)
12 th Vidhan Sabha 1993 164 67 11.12 28.52
13 th Vidhan Sabha 1996 296 67 19.64 27.73
14 th Vidhan Sabha 2002 401 98 23.06 23.19
16 th Vidhan Sabha 2012 403 80 25.95 25.95
15 th Vidhan Sabha 2007 403 206 30.43 30.43

11. Other states where BSP has a
presence

12. Bihar Vidhan Sabha

13. Vidhan Sabha
Term
Bihar
General
Election
Seats
Contested
Seats
won
% of
Votes
% of Votes in
seats
contested
10 th Vidhan
Sabha
1990 164 0 0.73 1.41
11 th Vidhan
Sabha
1995 161 2 1.34 2.66
12 th Vidhan
Sabha
2000 249 5 1.89 2.47
13 th Vidhan
Sabha
Feb. 2005 238 2 4.41 4.50
14 th Vidhan
Sabha
Oct. 2005 212 4 4.17 4.75
15 th Vidhan
Sabha
2010 243 0 3.21 3.27

14. Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha

15. Vidhan
Sabha Term
Chhattisgarh
General
Election
Seats
Contested
Seats
won
% of
Votes
% of Votes
in
seats
contested
2 nd Vidhan
Sabha
2003 54 2 4.45 9.4
3 rd Vidhan
Sabha
2008 90 2 6.11 6.11
4 th Vidhan
Sabha
2013 90 1 4.27 4.29

16. Delhi Vidhan Sabha

17. Vidhan Sabha Term
Delhi
General Election
Seats
Contested
Seats
won
% of
Votes
% of Votes in
seats contested
1 st Vidhan Sabha 1993 55 0 1.88 2.42
2 nd Vidhan Sabha 1998 58 0 3.09 3.63
3 rd Vidhan Sabha 2003 40 0 5.76 8.96
4 th Vidhan Sabha 2008 69 2 14.05 14.05
5 th Vidhan Sabha 2013 69 0 5.33 5.44

18. Haryana Vidhan Sabha

19. Vidhan Sabha
Term
Haryana
General
Election
Seats
Contested
Seats
won
% of
Votes
% of Votes in
seats contested
8 th Vidhan
Sabha
1991 26 1 2.32 7.67
9 th Vidhan
Sabha
1996 67 0 5.44 7.2
10 th Vidhan
Sabha
2000 83 1 5.74 6.22
11 th Vidhan
Sabha
2005 84 1 3.22 3.44
12 th Vidhan
Sabha
2009 86 1 6.73 7.05
13 th Vidhan
Sabha
2014 90 1 4.4

20. Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha

21. Vidhan Sabhaui
Term
Rajasthan
General
Election
Seats
Contested
Seats
Won
% of
Votes
% of Votes in
seats contested
9 th Vidhan
Sabha
1990 205 0 0.79 2.54
10 th Vidhan
Sabha
1993 50 0 0.56 2.01
11 th Vidhan
Sabha
1998 108 2 2.17 3.81
12 th Vidhan
Sabha
2003 124 2 3.97 6.40
13 th vidhan
sabha
2008 199 6 7.60 7.66
14 th vidhan
sabha
2013 199 3 3.37 3.48