To build on gains, SP homes in on 108 ‘weak seats’ for UP polls, dispatches observers

Sources said observers had already paid at least a couple of visits to each of such Assembly constituencies in the past fortnight. They held separate meetings with the district presidents, district unit office bearers, prominent leaders in the constituencies, past candidates, and influential people from different castes and communities, insiders said.

SP insiders said the party had appointed former MLAs as observers and that they were from outside the constituencies assigned to them to avoid any bias in their reports. The observers are broadly inquiring about groupism, internal conflict, and social equations, reasons that may have contributed to the losses in these seats. They are also checking the progress made in forming block and booth communities and the response to the party’s “PDA charcha” outreach to Other Backward Classes, Dalits, and minorities. PDA refers to the party’s strategy of focusing on “Pichhda (OBCs), Dalit, Alpsankhyak (minorities)” communities to expand and consolidate its base.

“The observer asked about the social equations and the caste and class composition of voters who were earlier with SP but shifted to the BJP. They also asked if internal conflicts had dented the party in previous elections,” said an SP leader in one of these “weak constituencies”.

“The SP has devised a multi-pronged strategy for the 2027 assembly elections based on the Lok Sabha election experience. The party organisation has been revamped and transformed into a powerful cadre-based winning machine. The party expanded its social base through ‘PDA’ panchayats, collation of facts and stories from different constituencies to identify specific issues, and their redressal well before time,” said SP spokesperson Sudhir Panwar.

The party has also sent observers to constituencies that its allies contested in previous elections. For instance, the party sent an observer to Shamli, where its former ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), led by Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary, won in 2022. In 2017, the Congress, in alliance with the SP, contested the seat but lost to the BJP. In 2012, the SP, which contested the election alone, lost the seat to the Congress.

Among these “weak seats” are two seats in Firozabad district and one in Badaun district, which are otherwise SP strongholds because of the dominance of Yadav and Muslim voters. The seats in Firozabad are Firozabad City and Tundla. The SP’s Akshay Yadav is the Firozabad MP at present, and his victory has given the party hope that it can flip Firozabad City, where he had a lead of 16,000 votes in 2024. The party last won the seat in 2002. However, in the Tundla Assembly segment, Akshay Yadav trailed the BJP by almost 17,000 votes.

SP district president Shivraj Singh Yadav said, “The observer for Firozabad visited recently and held meetings to find out the reasons for defeat in past polls, consulted with party workers and senior leaders. The observer has submitted his report.”

“As the SP won maximum (37 seats) Lok Sabha seats in UP in 2024, the party is seeing a favourable atmosphere for the 2027 Assembly polls. Hence, it does not want to leave the scope for any mistake,” said a senior party leader.