Fine-tuning its electoral arithmetic months before the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the Samajwadi Party has instructed its booth-level agents (BLAs) to add five new voters to every booth in an election which will be keenly contested and where every booth will matter.
According to official data, Uttar Pradesh has around 1.77 lakh booths across the state.
The SP’s booth strategy rests on data from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when the SP-Congress alliance finished ahead in 224 of the state’s 403 assembly segments.
The SP is pitted against the BJP, which has upped its game by appointing “booth palaks” and deploying “panna pramukhs” in the past.
Nevertheless, SP leaders claim they have the edge with the issue of donation theft at the Ram temple and the NEET protest still fresh in people’s minds.
In the 2022 UP assembly elections, the BJP bagged around 41.29% of the votes and won 255 seats. The SP polled 32.06% votes, winning 111 seats.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP bagged 41.37% of the votes and won 33 seats. The SP got 33.59% of the votes and 37 seats. The SP’s alliance partner, the Congress, won six seats.
Over two years since the parliamentary polls, SP leaders privately concede that converting 2024’s segment leads into sustained ground strength requires consistent cadre motivation and careful messaging.
{{/usCountry}}Over two years since the parliamentary polls, SP leaders privately concede that converting 2024’s segment leads into sustained ground strength requires consistent cadre motivation and careful messaging.
{{/usCountry}}“The BJP’s victory march started from Uttar Pradesh; their political downfall will also start from here,” SP national president Akhilesh Yadav has repeatedly told workers. In recent meetings at the party headquarters, he urged cadres to prioritise booth-level management, voter-list verification and appointing reliable BLAs.
Speaking to HT, Rajendra Chaudhary, senior SP leader and chief spokesperson, said, “Our booth in-charges have been told to add at least five new voters, though they are adding more than that at every booth. Our booth level workers are reaching out to households, telling them about the development done during the SP regime.”
“Today, the youth is angry with the BJP over paper leaks and people are upset with the donation theft at the Ram Temple,” Chaudhary said.
According to highly placed sources in the Samajwadi Party, Internal surveys covering all 403 seats are underway through multiple agencies and party youth organisations. These exercises map caste-wise vote shares booth by booth and identify “jitaau” (winnable) candidates.
Sudhri Panwar, SP spokesperson, said the math behind adding five new people doesn’t stop at just five people.
“Adding a new person means you are adding one entire family to your fold. On an average, that means five people. Now, when you add five new people that means you are adding 25 people per booth,” he said.
The BJP has said that the SP drive won’t impact the 2027 state assembly elections.
“The Samajwadi Party’s drive to add five voters in every booth will make no difference to the BJP. Across the state, BJP’s workers are active at all booths. The BJP’s booth-level organisational structure is very strong. The SP is only trying to copy us,” UP BJP spokesperson Anand Dubey said.
Official data suggests that SP’s vote share has increased since 2017 despite seat losses and the PDA (Pichda-Dalit-Alpsankhyak) consolidation that worked in 2024 remains the backbone.