The Samajwadi Party (SP) has announced the names of two additional candidates for the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. This takes the total number of SP candidates for the election to six. While there were speculations about an alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress as part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), SP State president Ramayan Singh Patel has ruled out any such possibility. The final decision on alliances will be made by the national leadership of the party. However, the SP has already declared candidates for six seats and is planning to contest in all seats of the state.
The Samajwadi Party is the third major party, after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), to announce its candidates for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, even though the Election Commission is yet to announce the poll schedule. The Congress and the BJP have traditionally been the main political players in the state.
In the 2018 Assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party managed to secure one seat out of the total 230 seats. Led by former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, the party has now released the names of candidates for seats in the Bundelkhand, Gwalior-Chambal belt, and Vindhya region. The party intends to take up important issues such as a caste-based census, unemployment allowance for youth, government guarantee for business loans, and loan waivers for farmers. The Samajwadi Party aims to connect with the people with these issues and hopes to gain a significant vote share in the upcoming election.
It is important to note that the Samajwadi Party has ruled out the possibility of an alliance with the Congress at this stage. As part of the Opposition bloc INDIA, the Congress and the SP are both members of a broader alliance comprising 26 political parties. The INDIA alliance includes parties with diverse ideologies, all coming together to counter the ruling BJP in national and state elections. However, the SP’s decision not to ally with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh indicates a divergence in political strategies. With the election scheduled for later this year, the Samajwadi Party will aim to emerge as a strong alternative to both the Congress and the BJP in the state.
