Samata Party

Samata Party
AbbreviationSAP
PresidentUday Mandal[1]
FounderGeorge Fernandes and Nitish Kumar
Founded1994
Split fromJanata Dal
IdeologySocialism
Political positionCentre to centre-left[2]
ECI StatusUnrecognised[3]
AllianceNational Democratic Alliance(1996 - 2003)
Seats in Lok Sabha
0 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha
0 / 245
Election symbol
Party flag
Website
samataparty.org

The Samata Party (SAP) is a political party in India, initially formed in 1994 by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar, is now being led by Uday Mandal as its National President.[4][5] Samata Party once launched Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister of Bihar.[6] It was an offshoot of the Janata Dal, with the alleged casteism of the parent party being the reason given for the split.[7] The party has socialist leanings; at one point, it wielded considerable political and social influence in North India, particularly in Bihar. In 2003, most Samata Party members joined Janata Dal (United). Only a faction led by MP Brahmanand Mandal remained in the Samata party and continued to use the party name and symbols.[8][9]

  1. ^ "Dispute over new symbol of Uddhav Shiv Sena, Samata Party files complaint". 12 October 2022.
  2. ^ Mukherjee, Pampa; Saxena, Rekha; Mitra, Subrata (16 June 2022). The 2019 Parliamentary Elections in India Democracy at the Crossroads?. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 9781000591057.
  3. ^ "Samata Party delegation meets Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde to seek help in getting back 'flaming torch' symbol from Thackeray faction". The Hindu. 22 February 2023. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  4. ^ Dash, Nivedita; News, India TV (12 July 2023). "From Mulayam Singh's SP to George Fernandes' Samata Party: List of splits in Janata Dal | EXPLAINED". www.indiatvnews.com. Retrieved 21 December 2023. {{cite web}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  5. ^ "Delhi HC dismisses Samata Party plea against 'flaming torch' symbol allotment". The Indian Express. 19 October 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  6. ^ "'Flaming Torch' Election Symbol: A Look Back At Samata Party And Nitish Kumar's Ascension To Bihar CM". www.outlookindia.com/. 19 October 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  7. ^ "Samata Party". Indian Elections. Archived from the original on 1 June 2004.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBCHindi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference rejects was invoked but never defined (see the help page).