The Grand Democratic Secular Front (GDSF) was a coalition of political parties in the Indian state of
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...
formed on 8 October 2020 after the merger of the constituents of the United Democratic Secular Alliance and a three party front. The coalition was formed in the wake of the
2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election and consisted of 6 parties.
History
![Cropped image of Rashtriya Lok Samata Party Headquarter](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Cropped_image_of_Rashtriya_Lok_Samata_Party_Headquarter.jpg)
The
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen ( en, All India Council for Unity of Muslims) ( AIMIM) is an Indian political party based primarily in the city of Hyderabad. It is also a significant political party in the Indian States of Telangana ...
announced an alliance with
Samajwadi Janata Dal Democratic
Samajwadi Janata Dal (Democratic) is a political party in India. Devendra Prasad Yadav is the leader of the party. The election symbol of the party is an air conditioner. On 24 March 2022, SJD(D) merged with Rashtriya Janata Dal.
History
Party ...
ahead of the 2020 elections in Bihar.
RLSP,
BSP and PSP declared another alliance for upcoming Bihar election. However these two separate coalition of political parties merged and formed a brand new alliance named Grand Democratic Secular Front and declared
Upendra Kushwaha
Upendra Singh Kushwaha (born 6 February 1960) is an Indian politician and Member of Legislative Council of Bihar assembly. He was the former Minister of State for Human Resources and Development in the Government of India. He is former MP fro ...
as its Chief Ministerial candidate for Bihar. According to its leaders, the alliance was forged to converge the
Dalit
Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming ...
,
OBC &
Muslim votes.
The bloc's ticket distribution plan gave due weightage to caste and communal representation in various constituencies. It was decided that the
Rashtriya Lok Samta Party
Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (abbreviated as RLSP; translation: ''National People's Equity Party'') was a political party in India led by Upendra Kushwaha. It was launched on 3 March 2013 and was based in the state of Bihar. The party came into exi ...
will contest on 104 out of 243 seats of the Bihar Assembly while
Bahujan Samaj Party was to contest on 80 seats. The other members like
AIMIM
The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen ( en, All India Council for Unity of Muslims) ( AIMIM) is an Indian political party based primarily in the city of Hyderabad. It is also a significant political party in the Indian States of Telangana ...
and
Samajwadi Janata Dal were given 24 and 25 seats respectively while the minor players like
Suhaldev Bhartiya Samaj Party and
Janwadi Party Socialist were to contest 5-5 seats each.
In the first phase of the election RLSP contested on 42 seats. Relying upon its vote base which is
Kushwaha
Kushwaha (sometimes, Kushvaha) is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain which has traditionally been involved in agriculture (including beekeeping). The term has been used to represent different subcastes, being those of the Kachhi (caste), ...
caste, RLSP fielded 40% Kushwaha candidates in the elections . The Grand Democratic Secular Front of which RLSP was a constituent member relied primarily upon the votes of castes like Kushwahas, Ravidasis, and
Muslims . RLSP in the first phase of elections contested a total of 42 seats amongst which it gave ticket to 17 candidates of Kushwaha caste while its ally
AIMIM
The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen ( en, All India Council for Unity of Muslims) ( AIMIM) is an Indian political party based primarily in the city of Hyderabad. It is also a significant political party in the Indian States of Telangana ...
placed its candidates in Muslim dominated areas of Bihar. Similarly in the list of its 37 candidates in the second phase also Koeri candidates were dominant accounting for 18 seats.
The Grand Democratic Secular front however failed to perform as it claimed earlier in the Bihar Assembly Elections of 2020. Its only success was in obtaining six seats, five of which were won by AIMIM in the
Muslim dominated Simanchal region of Bihar. The Bahujan Samaj Party also won one seat but the RLSP, the principal political party of the alliance performed badly and failed to win any seats.
Performance in 2020 Bihar Assembly elections
Defection of legislators and dormancy
Following its poor performance in
Bihar Assembly elections of 2020, the coalition ripped apart with its elected
Member of Legislative Assembly
A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...
meeting with leaders of other political parties.
Zama Khan, the single legislator from
Bahujan Samaj Party joined
Janata Dal (United)
Janata Dal (United) ("People’s Party (United)”) abbreviated as JD(U) is an Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar , Arunachal Pr ...
and was made a minister in the expanded cabinet of
Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician, who is serving as Chief Minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previous held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. The leader of the Janata Dal (Unit ...
in 2021.
The defection was followed by the attempt of JD(U) to merge the
Rashtriya Lok Samata Party
Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (abbreviated as RLSP; translation: ''National People's Equity Party'') was a political party in India led by Upendra Kushwaha. It was launched on 3 March 2013 and was based in the state of Bihar. The party came into ex ...
, which happened inevitably in 2021. The merger of
RLSP into the
JDU ripped the coalition apart. The coalition virtually ceased to exist after it.
Members and status of parties during 2020 Bihar elections
See also
*
United Progressive Alliance
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party ...
*
National Democratic Alliance
*
Mahagathbandhan (Bihar)
''Mahagathbandhan'' (MGB), (Hindi: महागठबंधन) also known as Grand Alliance, is a coalition of political parties in the Eastern state of Bihar in India, formed ahead of the 2015 Vidhan Sabha elections in Bihar. The alliance con ...
*
Progressive Democratic Alliance (Bihar) The Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) is a political alliance of Indian center-left political parties formed in 2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election. The coalition is led by the Jan Adhikar Party (Loktantrik) from 2020.
Candidates
See ...
*
Coalition government
*
Federal Front
The Federal Front (FF) was an Indian political alliance of regional parties formed in the run-up to the 2019 general election led by Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress, K. Chandrashekar Rao's Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Arvind ...
References
{{Bihar elections
External links
2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election
2020s in Bihar
Political parties in India
2020 in Indian politics