Ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party (SP), led by Akhilesh Yadav, has stepped up its organisational preparations, intensifying its grassroots outreach and beginning work on its electoral strategy. At the same time, the party is gearing up for potentially difficult seat-sharing negotiations with the Congress as both parties seek a larger share of the 403-member Assembly. Sources within the party told The Sunday Guardian that the SP has already identified a pool of around 300 prospective candidates and is working on preparations to contest roughly 300–330 seats, while the party leadership has indicated that organisational preparations should be undertaken in as many as 350 constituencies.
The gap between the SP’s preparations and the Congress’s expectations is likely to become a key issue when formal negotiations begin. Apart from that, the SP is also moving away from relying solely on a single statewide manifesto. The party plans to prepare 75 districtspecific micro-manifestos, with each document tailored to local economic and social concerns. The proposed documents are expected to address employment opportunities, local industries and manufacturing clusters, as well as issues specific to younger voters and the Gen-Z population. Local economic examples being considered include Aligarh’s lock industry and Kannauj’s perfume sector. The strategy is designed to give the party’s campaign a more localised character, with constituency- and district-level issues forming a larger part of its electoral messaging.
Meanwhile, the SP has also stepped up its electoral outreach with the launch of the PDA Rath Yatra, centred on its Pichhde (Backward), Dalit and Alpsankhyak (Minority) social coalition. Earlier this week, party chief Akhilesh Yadav flagged off the campaign from Rae Bareli, seeking to strengthen the party’s social justice narrative and consolidate voters opposed to the BJP. The launch from Rae Bareli is also politically significant as the district is among the areas where the Congress is staking its claim during the anticipated seat-sharing negotiations.
The SP’s campaign in the Rae Bareli-Amethi belt has further brought the seats haring issue with the Congress into focus. Sources said the Congress is seeking a substantial share of the 10 Assembly constituencies across the two districts, while the SP is also assessing seats in the region as part of its electoral preparations. A source told the publication that Akhilesh Yadav has asked party workers to step up preparations across 350 constituencies, signalling that the party wants to retain a dominant share of seats even if the alliance with Congress continues.
Within the SP, however, there is resistance to conceding a large number of constituencies. The party’s argument is that seat allocation should be based primarily on local organisational strength and electoral competitiveness rather than national-level considerations.
