The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) formed an alliance on Saturday for the 2022 Punjab Assembly election.

Announcing the tie-up at a press conference, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal described it as a new day in politics of Punjab .

"Today is a historic day...a big turn in Punjab's politics,” he said in the presence of BSP General Secretary Satish Chandra Mishra.

He said the SAD and the BSP will jointly fight the 2022 polls and other elections together.

The Mayawati-led BSP will fight 20 of the 117 Assembly seats in Punjab, while the rest will be contested by the SAD, he said.

Among the seats which the BSP will contest are Kartarpur Sahib in Jalandhar, Jalandhar-West, Jalandhar-North, Phagwara, Hoshiarpur Urban, Dasuya, Chamkaur Sahib in Rupnagar district, Bassi Pathana, Sujanpur in Pathankot, Mohali, Amritsar North and Amritsar Central.

According to a report by ndtv.com Sukhbir Singh Badal is said to be behind the new alliance who announced last week that his party is open to tie-ups barring the Congress, BJP and the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

"We cannot align with these parties. We will form alliances and we are open to others. No chance to go with BJP at all," he had said earlier.

The SAD earlier had a tie-up with the BJP and the Badal-led party walked out of the NDA over the farm laws issue last year.

The BJP used to contest 23 seats under its alliance with the SAD.