Akhilesh creates a lot of noise but ends with a whimper in MP, SP gets 0 seats

Since taking over from his father Mulayam in 2017, the SP chief has lost a string of elections with diminishing returns, even as he has tried to expand his political estate beyond UP

This is yet another election the SP has botched up under Akhilesh's leadership, performing well below par. (PTI Photo)

The Samajwadi Party (SP) has been handed out another reality check — this time in Madhya Pradesh. The party, which had fielded 72 candidates in the state and had party president Akhilesh Yadav himself leading the campaign, has returned with no seats and a vote share of 0.43%.

The Madhya Pradesh elections also exposed how fragile the equation between INDIA bloc allies the Congress and the SP is. Accusing the Congress of “cheating” during the process of nominating candidates, the SP had decided to go solo.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav had led an aggressive campaign in a bid to hold on to the party’s workers, and to raise its bargaining power with the Congress within the Opposition INDIA bloc, for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Thereafter, during the campaign, the SP chief had repeatedly attacked the Congress by saying there was no difference in principles and programmes between it and the BJP.

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This was the first time the top leadership of the SP had been so involved in campaigning in the state. Akhilesh had himself addressed 24 public rallies across 20 Assembly seats, besides leading “rath yatras” in three others. His wife and Mainpuri MP Dimple Yadav, too, joined the campaign and addressed rallies to ensure better connect with women voters. It was the first time she had campaigned outside UP. The couple also visited temples to pray for the victory of SP candidates.

The Congress, on the other hand, had argued that the SP had no standing in the state and should have shown a bigger heart by leaving it to the national party. Throughout October and November, the two parties repeatedly accused each other of being BJP’s “B-team”, with UP Congress president Ajay Rai going to the extent of taunting Akhilesh.

This is yet another election the SP has botched up under Akhilesh’s leadership, performing well below par. Since taking over the reins of the party from his father and party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh has lost a string of elections, and is yet to claim victory in any. The SP’s first defeat under Akhilesh was in the 2017 UP Assembly polls. The party went on to fare poorly in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, before losing the UP Assembly polls again in 2022.

Having repeatedly faced drubbings at the hands of the BJP, the last thing the SP would have wanted before the Lok Sabha polls was another demoralising performance in yet another state election. Sadly, as per latest trends on Sunday evening, in none of the 72 seats it had contested, could SP’s candidates manage even the second place. In 2018, the party had fielded 52 candidates, winning one seat, and an overall vote share of 1.30%.

Asad Rehman

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More

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