Punjab Assembly Polls: Rift in Farmer Outfits Over Seat Distribution

The Punjab Assembly election alliance discussions between Gurnam Singh Chaduni's Samyukt Sangharsh Party (SSP) and Balbir Singh Rajewal's political organization Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) appear to be on hold due to a disagreement over seat distribution. Chaduni claims the SSM is only providing nine seats to his organization and all other farmers' and workers' outfits connected with it, despite his demand for 25 seats. 

"They're only providing us nine seats," I asked that Rajewal Ji provide us with at least 25 seats. "Either they give us our fair share, or we will have to field our candidates separately," Chaduni added. 

The SSM had already formed a committee to decide on the seat-sharing arrangement with the SSP. On January 9, Chaduni conducted discussions with the SSM for the poll accord and then halted the scheduled announcement of his party's 10 members for the Feb 14 polls. 

Chaduni, the chief of the Haryana unit of BKU, stated in a video statement that he had demanded 25 seats, but SSM, having started with five seats, decided to offer only nine seats to all outfits affiliated with SSP, including Sanjha Sunehra Punjab, United Republic Party, Punjab Kisan Dal, Taxi Union Punjab, and Bharti Republic Party. 

Despite the formation of a committee, the SSM ignored his outfit, said Chaduni. He said he spoke with Rajewal and insisted that he provide a sufficient number of seats for his outfit. 

"We have been preparing for the elections for the past six months,"  We have candidates for 40-50 seats. They (the Rajewal faction) have been neglecting (us) since the formation of SSM, even though we want to run in the elections unitedly." Chaduni said.