Akhilesh Yadav Election 2024 Winning Strategy Explained | Samajwadi Party | How Akhilesh reached from 5 to 39 seats in UP: With Rahul’s support, did not let the Muslim votes get divided in BSP; Read… the siege in which BJP got entangled – Lucknow News

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What was the strategy behind Akhilesh’s victory? What were the issues that made Akhilesh a big face? How did SP make a record? What will be their future strategy now? Let’s understand step by step…

First a look at the seat sharing formula
In UP, SP fielded its candidates on 62 seats under the alliance. 17 seats were given to Congress and one seat (Bhadohi) to Mamata Banerjee’s party TMC. Earlier in 2004, SP had won the maximum number of 35 seats. In 2014 and 2019, it was reduced to 5 seats. In 2019, SP had formed an alliance with BSP.

Now know on which issues SP contested the elections…

These are pictures of Akhilesh’s rallies in different districts of UP.

Issue of paper leak and delay in examinations raised, announcement on Agniveer scheme
Akhilesh Yadav made paper leak and delay in exams an issue from the very beginning. In all his public meetings, Akhilesh targeted BJP on this issue. In the 2017 assembly elections in UP, the youth had chosen BJP for the first time on this issue. But, after the second BJP government came to power, papers of many exams were leaked one after the other.

This was the reason why the anger of the youth was at its peak due to paper leak and unemployment in the state. Youth were seen protesting on the streets over paper leak and rigging. At the same time, the long wait for recruitments also became a big reason for dissatisfaction for the current government. Akhilesh promised to cancel the Agniveer scheme, which is being considered a big factor for victory.

The issue of development and inflation
Akhilesh Yadav fiercely targeted the NDA on the issue of development and inflation in his public meetings. He counted more of the work done by his government rather than the government’s schemes. He remained limited to UP. Since the UP Assembly Elections 2022, Akhilesh has been continuously giving his reaction on every issue.

Now understand in 5 points what the strategy was

1- This time the whole family took charge
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the biggest loss to SP was due to family feud. Akhilesh’s uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav contested the elections by forming a separate party. But this time the Yadav family remained united. The statements of BJP brought the family closer. Akhilesh listened to Shivpal, while he listened to his nephew.

Kannauj and Mainpuri: In 2019, SP fielded Dimple Yadav and BJP fielded Subrata Pathak from Kannauj. Subrata Pathak defeated Dimple by 12 thousand 353 votes. He got 5 lakh 63 thousand 87 votes, Dimple got 5 lakh 50 thousand 734 votes. Despite Mulayam Singh Yadav once, Akhilesh Yadav thrice and being an MP herself twice, Dimple could not save this seat. This time Dimple Yadav was fielded from Mainpuri. Aditya Yadav was first made the candidate in Kannauj, but looking at the equations, Akhilesh Yadav himself contested from here.

Budaun: Dharmendra Yadav had won this seat, considered to be the stronghold of SP, even in the Modi wave in 2014. In 2019, he became a candidate but could get only 4 lakh 92 thousand 898 votes. Swami Prasad Maurya’s daughter Sanghmitra from BJP got 5 lakh 11 thousand 352 votes. Dharmendra lost by 18 thousand 454 votes.

Akhilesh Yadav’s daughter Aditi also came for campaigning.

This time, SP first gave ticket to its strongest face Shivpal Yadav, but he got his son Aditya Yadav to enter politics. Aditya filed nomination. Shivpal campaigned for him. Apart from this, Akhilesh Yadav also held a public meeting. On the other hand, BJP cut the ticket of its sitting MP Sanghmitra Maurya and fielded Durvijay Singh Shakya.

Firozabad: In 2019, SP MP Akshay Yadav was pitted against BJP’s Dr Chandrasen Jadon on this seat. Akshay got 4 lakh 67 thousand 38 votes then, BJP’s Chandrasen Jadon got 4 lakh 95 thousand 819 votes. Akshay lost the election by 28 thousand 781 votes on this Muslim and Yadav dominated seat.

The reason for this was that uncle Shivpal was angry. He himself contested the election and got 91 thousand 869 votes here. This time uncle is with him and Akshay Yadav was again given the responsibility of winning the seat. Continuous campaigning was done.

Azamgarh: Akhilesh Yadav himself won the election on this seat in the year 2019. He defeated Dinesh Lal Nirahua of BJP by more than 2 lakh votes. After this, he won the election from Karhal in the assembly elections and became the Leader of the Opposition.

By-elections were held on Azamgarh seat, in which Nirahua defeated Dharmendra Yadav. In 2024, Akhilesh again expressed confidence in Dharmendra. Two more plus points have increased here… number one is that this time Congress is with him, second Guddu Jamali has joined SP.

2- PDA formula adopted for selection of candidates

Akhilesh’s focus was on the PDA formula in the selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha. SP fielded Dalit candidates on 17 seats, OBC on 29, Muslim on 4 and the rest were upper caste candidates. Among the Muslim candidates, Afzal Ansari from Ghazipur, Iqra Hasan from Kairana, Ziaur Rahman Barq from Sambhal and Mohibullah Nadvi from Rampur were fielded.

3- Strategy at the organization level: Focus on camps and cadre votes in runner-up seats
For the first time, Akhilesh went to the ground level and started the process of strengthening the cadre. In the training session, most of the youth and workers below the age of 40 were made representatives and given the responsibility of sector-booth.

10 new cadre members were made at every booth. In Kannauj, Firozabad, Badaun, Mainpuri, Azamgarh, family members took charge of the camps. Small meetings were organised to connect people with SP.

4. Runner to Winner Strategy
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Samajwadi Party contested 37 seats and won 5 seats and was runner-up on 31. SP fought this election in alliance with BSP-RLD. In the political journey of 2024, Akhilesh Yadav’s main focus was on the runner-up seats. Akhilesh Yadav made a different strategy at the candidate, caste, religious and organization level to win the runner-up seats.

Out of the 31 runner-up seats, 6 were such where SP lost by less than 50 thousand votes. There were 7 seats where SP could have won if Congress had been with it. In 2024, the alliance with BSP and RLD broke, but the cycle got the support of Congress.

5- Strategy on caste equation: Keeping an eye on upper castes with soft Hindutva along with PDA

Akhilesh Yadav remained restrained in his statement, he only raised the issues.

Distanced from Swami Prasad Maurya, laid the foundation of Shiva temple in Etawah
Akhilesh Yadav maintained the image of soft Hindutva. BJP targeted SP fiercely over Ram Mandir Prana Pratishtha. But, Akhilesh never reacted to it. He laid the foundation of Shiv Mandir in Etawah. He also publicized about it. Apart from this, Akhilesh Yadav and SP kept themselves away from the controversial statements of Swami Prasad Maurya.

Targeted to appease the upper castes: Rajput candidate from Chandauli and Brahmin candidate from Bhadohi fielded
After Manoj Pandey, who was established in SP as a Brahmin face, rebelled, Akhilesh planned to woo Brahmin-Thakur voters. He gave the Bhadohi seat to TMC and fielded Lalitesh Tripathi. Lalitesh is the great grandson of former CM Kamlapati Tripathi. The Tripathi family has a special hold in Purvanchal in the Brahmin vote bank.

At the same time, former MLA and minister Anil Singh was given a ticket from Chandauli. In the last election, SP was the runner up in Chandauli. Through Anil Singh, Akhilesh kept trying to woo the Kshatriya vote bank. Not only this, Akhilesh kept presenting SP as soft Hindutva. Starting the election mission from Naimisharanya, building a Shiva temple in Etawah, releasing pictures of Navratri Puja, all this is an attempt to give a message that he is not just a Muslim sympathizer.

Connection with Dalits/Backwards: Ambedkar Vahini Samajwadi Team entered the field
Looking at the 2019 results, Akhilesh Yadav started trying to establish a direct dialogue with the Dalit and backward vote bank. He kept demanding that the Dalits and backward classes fight for one path and one ideology. He kept raising the issue of caste census. He prepared the Ambedkar Vahini Samajwadi team to connect with the Dalits. This team was given training to go to the field in SP camps.

The youth were given the maximum responsibility in strengthening the Dalit cadre. On one hand, training was done at sector and booth level, on the other hand, Ambedkar Vahini Samajwadi was given separate training. These people kept campaigning at booth level by going to Dalit settlements and their areas.

In this campaign, Dalits and backward classes are being told about how to unite and avail the benefits of social justice, caste census and reservation.

Political experts were already assuming that if the SP makes a dent in the vote bank by uniting the Dalits with the backwards, then relying on Muslims, it will spoil the game of the BJP on many seats in the 2024 elections.

Strategy to stop Muslim vote: Creating an atmosphere against BJP through CAA-NRC
The strongest factor SP had was MY (Muslim-Yadav). Due to lack of alliance with Congress in 2019, there was some fragmentation in the Muslim vote bank. Due to this, SP also suffered a loss on 7 seats. In 2024, SP-Congress alliance was formed. This message was conveyed to the minority community that the Muslim vote should not get scattered.

Minority leaders from all states of the state were given the responsibility for this. Also, meetings were held in every city to unite the Muslim voters. The issue of CAA and NRC was also brought to the public.

Such cases were compiled in which cases were filed against Muslim MLAs and workers. Along with this, the stories of Muslim accused whose houses were bulldozed were also narrated among Muslims.

Akhilesh Yadav raised every issue loudly.

7 seats where Congress strengthened SP
As part of its strategy, SP also focused on those seats where the party would have taken the lead if it had the support of Congress in 2019. These seats were Barabanki, Badaun and Banda. Last time, the Muslim voters were divided due to both the parties contesting the elections separately.

Similar situation was seen in Kairana, Faizabad, Robertsganj and Kaushambi. Here too SP lost by 12 to 22 thousand votes. Congress candidates got 16 to 70 thousand votes here. If these votes were received in alliance, both parties would have benefited.

Will Akhilesh Yadav do central politics?
Akhilesh Yadav is on the path of success in UP. What will be his future strategy? On this question, political expert Arvind Jai Tilak says- I think, Akhilesh Yadav should shift towards central politics. There is no strong face visible in the opposition right now. Rahul Gandhi is there, but his weightage is less. Leaders like Tejaswi Yadav in Bihar and Naveen Patnaik in Odisha have not been able to prove themselves yet. In such a situation, Akhilesh will be a better option.

He further says- If Akhilesh leaves Kannauj again, then the wrong message will go to the public. Yes, he can hand over the command of UP to uncle Shivpal Singh and himself move towards central politics like his father.

On this question, political expert Prof. TP Singh says- I don’t think Akhilesh Yadav will shift towards the centre. The number of his MPs has definitely increased, but if the Indi alliance government was formed, then he could have thought of something like this.