After registering its best performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by winning 37 seats in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party (SP) now faces the challenge of maintaining the momentum in the bypolls for nine state assembly seats and gaining more prominence nationally.
If the SP manages to get some extra seats in bypolls, it will be in a better position to challenge the BJP effectively in the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly election, political experts said.
Political commentator and former UP Planning Commission member Sudhir Panwar said the mood of the people has not changed much since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“Elections are important for any political party. It is important for Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh Yadav, but this time it’s more important for the BJP which had performed poorly in 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The mood of the public has not changed much since 2024. PDA is a social plank and a social reality. I think SP will be focusing more on the failures of BJP in the bypolls,” he said.
“The challenge for Akhilesh Yadav is to maintain the pace which he gathered in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP government has no major recent achievement,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“The challenge for Akhilesh Yadav is to maintain the pace which he gathered in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP government has no major recent achievement,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}Political commentator and veteran journalist Ratan Mani Lal said, “The political equation has changed very significantly after the 2024 Lok Sabha election results, and it showed that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not as invincible as it appeared earlier. The 2024 Lok Sabha polls also showed that if there is a united opposition against the BJP, its seats can be reduced and it happened also. This has created a lot of enthusiasm among all the opposition parties, be it Samajwadi Party, Congress or Bahujan Samaj Party.”
“Now, the frontrunner of the opposition lot will get advantage, which is Akhilesh Yadav at the moment. It is a golden chance for Akhilesh Yadav for a comeback, if he increases a few seats in the bypolls, then it will be easy for him to challenge the BJP in the 2027 U.P. assembly polls. The 2024 Lok Sabha results have come as a huge opportunity for Akhilesh Yadav to re-establish himself as the number one challenger and number one opposition party,” he said.
“The SP has also given a strong message to the Congress that it (SP) is stronger than them in U.P. This will also help Akhilesh in pitching up later as a national leader. The one who is the main challenger in U.P, becomes a national leader automatically and that is why the stakes are very high in the bypolls for the Samajwadi Party,” Lal added.