The Samajwadi Party (SP) has drawn up an ambitious plan to have a constituency-specific poll strategy for the 2024 parliamentary elections in Uttar Pradesh, and as part of that, has started collecting information such as performance of MPs on each seat, particularly those won by rival parties. A proforma was distributed to its district presidents by the SP at a meeting held last week in Lucknow, where party president Akhilesh Yadav was present. Party leaders were told to get back with detailed answers to specific questions on Lok Sabha constituencies falling in their respective areas. The questions include details regarding the local MP, along with the party, five major works and achievements of the incumbent, five key promises made but not fulfilled, and five major expectations the constituency's voters have from the next MP. The SP wants its leaders to come up with specific expectations of the people, apart from general ones such as inflation, unemployment etc. The proforma also expects details regarding electoral equations in a constituency. Apart from this, district presidents have been asked to come up with honest opinions regarding the SP organisation in their area. A party leader who was at the meeting said such planning might prove crucial as the SP currently has only 3 MPs from Uttar Pradesh (down from 5 it won in 2019). The BJP won 62 of the 80 UP Lok Sabha seats in 2019, and its ally Apna Dal (S) another two. “The SP will tailor its manifesto and election strategy for each seat according to the public's expectations,” the leader said. SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said: “Inputs collected from district presidents would also be used to decide candidates. The party will highlight how BJP MPs failed to meet expectations of the people despite having their government both in the state and at the Centre.” In 2019, the SP contested the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the BSP and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). While the BSP won 10 seats, the SP won five and the RLD none. The BJP won bypolls last year for two of the seats the SP had got in 2019, Rampur and Azamgarh – vacated by Azam Khan and Akhilesh, respectively. “Our focus will be seats where the BJP, Apna Dal (S) and BSP won last time (the BSP is no more an SP ally, though the RLD remains one),” another party leader said. Incidentally, sources said that one of the seats the SP wants its workers to collect details about is Rae Bareli – the only UP Lok Sabha constituency held by the Congress. The SP gave a walkover to the Congress the last three times here, but has indicated it might not repeat the same. However, things might still turn out differently given the bid for Opposition unity currently in the works. Chaudhary said that, for now, the SP is preparing to contest all the Lok Sabha constituencies in UP, and that after last week's joint meeting with district presidents, Akhilesh has started separate meetings with district units. On Friday, he met party workers of Sonbhadra and Mirzapur districts. Sources said analysis has started of the information that has come in already from district presidents, and that training camps for workers from Lakhimpur district are set to begin from Monday. The BJP has also started its preparations in UP for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The party, which is anxious to repeat its 2019 performance, for which UP is crucial, has started holding surveys and launched outreach campaigns in the state.
