NISHAD Party

The Nishad Party is a political party in India. The Nishad Party was founded in 2016. Nishad Party stands for "Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal". The Nishad Party was formed for empowerment of Nishad, Kewats, Bind, and other communities whose traditional occupations centred on rivers, such as boatmen or fishermen. Its founder is Sanjay Nishad, a former member of the Bahujan Samaj Party. According to Nishad, a separate party representing these communities was essential as although they had played an integral role in the victories of BSP and Samajwadi Party, benefits were restricted to dominant backward castes like Yadavs.[1][2][3][4]

The Nishad Party ran 100 candidates in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election in alliance with Peace Party of India, the Apna Dal and the Jan Adhikar Party.[2] In the election swept by the BJP, the NISHAD party won only the Gyanpur constituency.[5] Party leader Sanjay Nishad came third in Gorakhpur Rural polling 35,000 votes.[6]

For the 2018 bye-elections to Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seats, Samajwadi Party tied up with a number of smaller parties, including Nishad Party to extend its social base beyond Yadavs and Muslims. Sanjay Nishad's son, Praveen Kumar Nishad was selected as the Samajwadi candidate in Gorakhpur, where the Nishad community is the second largest demographic group.[6][7] In a major upset, Praveen Nishad wrested the seat from BJP, which had not lost the seat since 1989. The victory margin was 21,000 votes.[8]

On 4 April 2019, the NISHAD Party joined the National Democratic Alliance with Praveen Kumar Nishad fighting and getting elected from the Sant Kabir Nagar constituency on a BJP ticket.