The Swatantra Bharat Paksh (translation: ''Independent India Party''; abbr. SBP) is a liberal

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, established in 1994 by

Sharad Anantrao Joshi Sharad Anantrao Joshi (3 September 1935 – 12 December 2015) was an Indian politician who founded the Swatantra Bharat Paksh party and ''Shetkari Sanghatana'' (farmers' Organisation), He was also a Member of the Parliament of India representin ...

(former Shetkari Sanghatana leader).Sharad Joshi joins hands with NDA, Yukta Mookhey in BJP
The Hindu (2004-03-06). Retrieved on 2012-10-26. It claims its roots in the

Swatantra Party The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party, that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly soci ...

of C. Rajagopalachari. It won one seat in the 2004

Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha The Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha or the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the legislature of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is situated in the Nariman Point area of South Mumbai in the capital Mumbai. Presently, 288 mem ...

election, successfully contested by Wamanrao Chatap from the Rajura constituency.Kalpana Sharma (2004-10-17)
Congress-NCP retains Maharashtra
The Hindu. Retrieved on 2012-10-26. In total, the party had launched 7 candidates. Sharad Anantrao Joshi, the party's founder, represented the party and Maharasthra in the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

from 2004 to 2010.Member's Web Site
. 164.100.24.167:8080. Retrieved on 2012-10-26. The party was allied with the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

as well as the

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...

. The party supports the demand for a separate

Vidarbha Vidarbha (Pronunciation: �id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the east of the Indian state of Maharashtra and a proposed state of central India, comprising the state's Amravati and Nagpur divisions. Amravati Division's former name is Be ...

state. On 28 March 2022, the SBP merged with the Swarna Bharat Party and became the Swatantra Bharat Party.

References

Political parties in Maharashtra Political parties established in 1994 1994 establishments in Maharashtra Conservative parties in India {{India-party-stub