Explained: Why Akhilesh Yadav will not risk any alliance for 2022

the past. It fought the 2017 Assembly elections with the Congress and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). However, it ended up not only with a lesser number of seats but also its vote share decreased both times.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav greets Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati in Lucknow in 2019. (Express Photo: Vishal Srivastav, File)

A senior SP leader said: “In 2017, when the Samajwadi Party entered into alliance with Congress, both the parties faced losses but it was SP which lost its vote share as well. With many party leaders not getting tickets as many seats went to the alliance partner, it resulted in large-scale resentment, and instead of consolidation of votes, it resulted in division of votes. ” 📣 Express Explained is now on Telegram

What happened in 2017

In 2017, around 114 out of 403 UP Assembly seats were to be given to the Congress. While an agreement could not be reached, there were about 40 SP leaders who ended up contesting on Congress tickets. This was not all. Despite the alliance, both the parties could not convince many of their leaders to leave their seats and, thus, there were about 28 seats on which both SP and Congress fielded their candidates. It was referred to as “friendly fights” that confused the voters. It was clear from the poll results that neither party was able to transfer its votes to each other’s candidates in seats left for the other, rather, infighting in both the parties strengthened the BJP.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi during their road show in Lucknow in 2017. (PTI Photo/File)

SP’s vote share in past elections

Despite alliances with major parties, the Samajwadi Party’s vote share in the past four elections after 2012 —  when it came to power with a majority in the state — has been on the decline. While in 2012 its vote share was 29.12 per cent, in 2014 Lok Sabha elections it was 22.3 per cent; in 2017 it decreased to 21.8 per cent, and in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, its vote share dipped further to 18.11 per cent.

Learnings from Bihar and the prevailing narrative

Samajwadi Party leaders say that outcomes of Bihar elections have made it clear that any alliance against the ruling BJP would work only post-poll if required and pre-poll alliance would only result in division of votes, infighting, which, they feel, would help BJP or its alliance partners in UP.

Moreover, there is a strong feeling among the Samajwadi Party that the narrative as of now is of a fight between the BJP and the SP, and if the SP enters into alliance with any other major party, it will spoil the narrative. “There is a clear narrative of ‘BJP versus SP’ for 2022 Assembly polls in the state and the focus would be on post-poll alliance if required rather than pre-poll alliances. Previous mistakes would not be repeated,” said a party leader.

There is also this realisation that no party, be it BSP, SP or Congress, has the capability to “transfer” votes of their parties to each other’s candidates. Therefore, the conclusion widely drawn is that it is better for all parties to go it alone and enter into any alliance after the elections.