Lucknow: Despite attempts by parties based in UP and Bihar to emerge as players in each other’s political turf, past election results suggest these cross-border ambitions have produced little electoral success.
The latest attempt is being made by the Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), a BJP ally, which has signalled its willingness to contest all 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, if it is not accommodated in BJP-led NDA for the 2027 Assembly elections. Addressing the ‘Nav Sankalp Mahasabha’ in Varanasi earlier this week, Paswan asked party workers to expand the organisation’s footprint in UP and build a support base ahead of the 2027 state polls. His assertion is being seen as an attempt to increase the party’s bargaining power within NDA even as it seeks a foothold in a state where his party’s presence remains limited Chirag’s party, which was formed in 2021 after the split from the original Lok Jan Shakti Party, contested 21 seats in the 2022 UP elections but lost deposits on all seats while securing barely 0.01% of the votes. At that time, LJP(RV) was not part of NDA — it joined the saffron bandwagon in 2023. The party had contested 27 seats in the 2022 UP elections but lost deposits in 26, getting barely 0.4% of the votes. SBSP spokesperson Piyush Mishra said his party was not included in NDA alliance during the 2025 Bihar elections.
Rajbhar went on to claim that his party would be forced to consider “other options” if LJP (RV) finds a place in the BJP-led alliance. “The treatment meted out to his party should be given to the Bihar’s outfits as well,” Mishra said. This was one of the lowest performances by a state party in the UP elections. Chirag, Lok Sabha MP from Bihar’s Hajipur, was later inducted into the Modi cabinet. JD(U) politician and Bihar minister Nishant Kumar , son of former CM Nitish Kumar , too, recently claimed that his party would contest UP elections as an ally of NDA. These two Bihar-based parties face resistance from another NDA constituent with an established political presence in UP — the Om Prakash Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP). The warning was seen as a reflection of an emerging turf battle within NDA, where regional allies are increasingly conscious of protecting their political space and electoral constituencies.