SP-BSP alliance fields Akhilesh Yadav from Azamgarh to counter Modi-Yogi in east UP

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav’s decision to contest the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat is a calculated move by the SP-BSP alliance to win back ground in eastern Uttar Pradesh and blunt what it calls the Modi-Yogi effect, according to political observers and alliance insiders.

The 2014 setback

In 2014 the BJP won 71 of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 seats and its ally Apna Dal took two. SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav held Azamgarh, but the BJP took every other seat in the eastern region, including traditional SP and BSP strongholds such as Ballia, Allahabad, Jaunpur, Deoria, Ambedkar Nagar, Salempur and Lalganj. The alliance hopes Akhilesh will retain his father’s seat and lead the effort to wrest others.

The region had long favoured the two parties: in 2009, contesting separately, the BSP and SP together won 20 of its 31 seats, while the BJP managed four and the Congress seven.

Assembly results in the area

Even in the 2017 Assembly election, when the BJP swept the state, the two parties held on in Azamgarh. The SP won Gopalpur, Azamgarh and Mehnagar and the BSP won Sagri and Mubarakpur; Phoolpur Pawai was the BJP’s only win there. In the Lalganj (SC) parliamentary area, the SP took Atrauliya and Nizamabad and the BSP won Didarganj and Lalganj.

Why Azamgarh

It had initially been thought that Akhilesh and BSP chief Mayawati would campaign rather than contest; Mayawati stayed out to manage her party’s campaign in about a dozen states. Observer AK Mishra said Azamgarh lies between Mr Modi’s Varanasi constituency and Yogi Adityanath’s stronghold of Gorakhpur, and that fielding Akhilesh signals the alliance is ready to take on the BJP’s top leaders.

What happened next

Nationally, the BJP won 303 of 543 seats in 2019 and Narendra Modi began a second term on 30 May 2019.

See also: Samajwadi Party.

Originally published on 26 March 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us