The Peace Party is a political party in India. It became the sixth largest political party of India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, following the state legislative assembly elections of 2012. It won three seats in those elections. The party was founded by in February 2008 by Mohamed Ayub, a surgeon and philanthropist. It represents people who are striving for betterment of downtrodden people of India through political awareness and participation in governance. The PPI was founded with a view to present a fresh alternative to people of all classes, especially dalits, Muslims and the backward/oppressed classes, who have "been mostly used by other political parties of India as a tool to gain power" Initially, it had impact in some pockets of Uttar Pradesh but now it is spreading to other parts of India as well.
Strategy
The strategy of the PPI is to bring together other like-minded parties and groups, such as the Indian Justice Party, Lok Janshakti Party, Bhartiya Samaj Party, Janvadi Party and National Lok Hit Party into one forum. The party organised Muslims and most backward communities and has gained the power of over 70 per cent Muslim vote.. It plants to expand its activities to other regions of India, including Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttrakhand, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisa, and Chhattisgarh. In 2015, the Delhi state unit of the party merged with the Aam Aadmi Party, shortly before the 2015 Delhi polls.
Development
The PPI first contested seats in the General Election of India, 2009, when it came ranked sixth by percentage of votes in a field that contained 124 national and regional parties. It had contested 21 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. In the by-elections that took place in 2010 at Domariyaganj and Lakhimpur, it secured more votes than the Samajwadi Party and Indian National Congress. The PP contested around 208 Assembly seats in the 2012 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, where its obtained 2.35 per cent of the vote and so ranked fifth by percentage of votes gained. Four candidates were successful in being elected:
The PP is yet to be officially recognized as either a National or State party. It had been currently allied for 2017 state elections with 'Nishad Party' and 'Apna Dal'.
The PP also has struggled in Maharashtra since 2010. It has fought several elections and by-elections like Bhiwandi fought by Neeta Aarad Dhulay and finished in 3rd place for 3,600 votes, won by the Samajwadi Party.
Election symbol
The party has been officially assigned the "glass of water" for its symbol for contesting elections.
