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. Praveen Kumar Nishad was selected as the Samajwadi candidate in Gorakhpur, where the Nishad community is the second largest demographic group.[4][5] In a major upset, Praveen Nishad wrested the seat from BJP, which had not lost the seat since 1989.