In October 2003, George Fernandes, the president of the Samata Party, announced that the party would be merging with the Janata Dal (United). Samata Party Member of parliament (Lok Sabha) Shree Brahmanand Mandal was opposed to the merger. As result all the members did not support the official merge, and Shree Brahmanand Mandal's faction challenged the merger of the party in front of ECI, the merger wasn't officially recognized by the Election Commission of India. The Election Commission of India decided that the merger was not technically complete and so a faction was allowed to function the Samata Party.