Day after Cong move, SP may fight 65 LS seats in UP, gives 15 to INDIA bloc

The Samajwadi Party on Wednesday indicated that it will contest on 65 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2024.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav, who attended a meeting of the party's state executive committee in Lucknow, called upon party workers to make full preparations to remove the Bharatiya Janata Party from power in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"This election will decide the future of coming generations. It will be the last election to save democracy and the Constitution. Party workers should make full preparations to remove the BJP from power in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections," Yadav was quoted as having told the state executive meet at the party headquarters in Lucknow.

The Samajwadi Party, which is the main constituent of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance of opposition parties, also indicated that it will contest on 65 seats leaving the remaining to its allies.

SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary, while confirming that the party president has given indications of the party contesting on 65 seats, said that he has asked for making preparations for all the 80 seats.

"Yadav has asked party workers to remain vigilant at the booth level to prevent the BJP from coming to power," Chaudhary told PTI.

Asked whether the Samajwadi Party will be a part of the INDIA bloc in the parliamentary elections amid the strained relations between it and the Congress over seat sharing for the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, Chaudhary said, "There is an alliance for the Lok Sabha elections, that is certain."

According to party spokesman Faqrul Hasan Chand, Yadav told the party cadre that the SP is the biggest party in the state and had got 35 per cent vote share in the recent assembly elections and is also a part of the INDIA alliance. Therefore, the SP will contest on 65 of the 80 seats while leaving the rest for its allies.

During the last Lok Sabha elections, the SP, which had entered into an alliance with the BSP, also left three seats for the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). The RLD had contested the recent assembly elections with the SP and is still a part of the SP-led alliance.

Just before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the SP and the BSP had cobbled together an alliance in which the BSP contested 38 seats and the SP 37.

The alliance had left two seats for the Congress -- Rae Bareli and Amethi -- and did not field their candidates there.

In his address, Yadav cautioned the BJP government will try to influence the elections by misusing the administration.

Stressing that his party will expose the anti-people policies of the BJP, he said the Samajwadi Party is not afraid of BJP's conspiracies and malicious actions.

"People are looking at the Samajwadi Party as an alternative. BJP is implicating Samajwadi Party workers in false cases. The public is watching everything, they will remove BJP from power in 2024," he said.

The Samajwadi Party has been fighting for social justice for a long time and the conduct of a caste census is very important to take this fight forward, he said.

Only through this census will everyone get their rights and respect, he said, adding that the BJP was against holding a caste census.

The release said that in the state executive meeting of Samajwadi Party Uttar Pradesh, the political situation of the state, party organization and election strategy were discussed.