part of the United Progressive Alliance with Upendra Kushwaha contesting from two seats. The party was however unable to win on a single seat while the alliance won just one seat in Bihar. Following the election, all the three formerly dissident state legislators of the party joined the Janata Dal (United). 2020 Bihar Assembly Elections Exit from mainstream coalitions In the wake of the 2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Upendra Kushwaha pulled the party out of the Rashtriya Janata Dal led Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance), the extension of the United Progressive Alliance in Bihar. The party entered into an alliance with the Uttar Pradesh based Bahujan Samaj Party and the minor Janatantrik Party (Socialist); according to Kushwaha both the major alliances were no different from each other. According to the Dainik Bhaskar, the unorthodox alliance was symptomatic of a pattern of shrinking space for smaller parties leaving them with less leverage in seat sharing negotiations within larger alliances. Following the new arrangement, the state president of the party, Bhudeo Choudhary resigned from his position and joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal. This was followed by the national general secretary Madhav Anand resigning from his party membership while stating that the decision for an alliance with minor players was "inconsequential" and could potentially finish the party. Subsequently, the new state president of the party, Bharat Bind resigned to join the Rashtriya Janata Dal as well. During the campaign stage, the new coalition was merged with another smaller one consisting of the Telangana based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and the Devendra Prasad Yadav led Samajwadi Janata Dal Democratic to form the Grand Democratic Secular Alliance, this alliance also included the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party and declared Upendra Kushwaha as the candidate for the position of Chief Minister of Bihar. In the meantime, the former member of the legislative assembly Ajay Pratap joined the party. fielding of candidates Relying upon its vote base which is Kushwaha caste, RLSP fielded 40% Kushwaha candidates in the elections . The Grand Democratic Secular Front of which RLSP was a constituent member relied primarily upon the votes of castes like Kushwahas, Ravidasis, and Muslims . RLSP in the first phase of elections contested a total of 42 seats amongst which it gave ticket to 17 candidates of Kushwaha caste while its ally AIMIM placed its candidates in Muslim dominated areas of Bihar. Similarly in the list of its 37