Samajwadi Party

The Samajwadi Party (abbr. SP; lit. 'Socialist Party') is a socialist political party in India.^[14] It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former Janata Dal politician Mulayam Singh Yadav and is headquartered in New Delhi. It is the third-largest political party in India, and is led by former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav.^[21][22][23]

Samajwadi Party
Abbreviation	SP
President	Akhilesh Yadav
General Secretary	Ram Gopal Yadav Azam Khan Shivpal Singh Yadav Indrajit Saroj Lalji Verma Awadhesh Prasad Ram Achal Rajbhar Balram Yadav Vishambhar Prasad Nishad Ram Ji Lal Suman Harendra Singh Malik
Lok Sabha Leader	Akhilesh Yadav
Rajya Sabha Leader	Ram Gopal Yadav
Founder	Mulayam Singh Yadav
Founded	4 October 1992 (32 years ago) (1992-10-04)
Split from	Janata Dal
Headquarters	18 Copernicus Lane, New Delhi
Newspaper	Samajwadi Bulletin[1]
Student wing	Samajwadi Chatra Sabha[2]
Youth wing	Samajwadi Prahari[3] Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha[4] Lohiya Vahini
Women's wing	Samajwadi Mahila Sabha[5]
Ideology	Democratic socialism[6][7] Progressivism[8] Secularism[9][10] Left-wing populism[11][12][13][14][15] Social democracy[16] Social Conservatism
Political position	Left-wing[17][18][13]
International affiliation	Progressive Alliance[19]
Colours	Red and Green
ECI Status	State Party[20]
Alliance	I.N.D.I.A. (2023–present) Left Front (1996–2016)
Seats in Lok Sabha	37 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha	4 / 245
Seats in State Legislative Assemblies	107 / 403 (Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly) 2 / 288 (Maharashtra Legislative Assembly) 1 / 182 (Gujarat Legislative Assembly)
Seats in State Legislative Council's	10 / 100 (Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council)
Number of states and union territories in government	0 / 31
Election symbol
Party flag
Website
www.samajwadiparty.in
Politics of India Political parties Elections

While the party is largely based in Uttar Pradesh,^[24] it has significant presence in many other Indian states as well. It has been the ruling party in the state of Uttar Pradesh for four terms – three times under Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, the fourth and most recent being Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's full majority government in the 2012–2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

The coalition of the party and its alliance partners: Samajwadi Alliance SP+ is currently the largest bloc in Uttar Pradesh in terms of Lok Sabha MPs. The alliance has one of the largest vote bases in the state of Uttar Pradesh in terms of the collective voting pattern, with more than 37% vote share in the 2022 assembly elections and 44% in the 2024 general elections.^{[25][26][verification needed]}

History

In Mumbai, a supporter of the Samajwadi Party carries a bicycle, which is the symbol featured on the socialist party's flag.

The Samajwadi Party was one of several parties that emerged when Janata Dal fragmented into several regional parties.^[27] The party was founded by Mulayam Singh Yadav in 1992.^[28][29] Created just months before the Babri Masjid demolition, the party rose to power by pursuing secular politics. The support of its key voters, Other Backward Classes and Muslims helped the party become a major political force in Uttar Pradesh.^[14][30]

In West Bengal, the West Bengal Socialist Party of Kiranmoy Nanda merged with the SP in 2010. The Samajwadi Party is now led by former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav.

He was chosen as the President for the first time in an Emergency meeting in 2017. He was chosen for second time in 2017 at Agra Convention of Samajwadi Party. He was chosen for the third time at the party's national convention held in September 2022 at Lucknow,^[21][22][23] after he was chosen as the President at the party's national convention held on 1 January 2017.

The party have contested Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections around the country, but by far the bulk of its victories have been in Uttar Pradesh. In the 2012 legislative assembly elections of Uttar Pradesh, SP registered a landslide victory with a clear majority in the house, thus enabling it to form a government in the state. This was expected to be the fifth term of Mulayam Singh Yadav as Chief Minister of state, but he selected his son, Akhilesh Yadav instead. This became official on 15 March. It was also the first time that SP was head of the UP government for a full term of five years.^[31][32] However, the party suffered a landslide defeat in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Election, slumping to only 47 seats as the Bharatiya Janata Party swept to victory. The major loss of Samajwadi Party was attributed to several factors, most notably being corruption, several political controversies, deteriorating law and order, and insensitive comments on rape as well as anti-women views.

National Convention of January 2017

In a National Convention held on 1 January 2017, called by Ram Gopal Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav was appointed as president of the Party for 5 years.^[33]

Position in state and national politics

Alliance

UPA

The Samajwadi Party provided outside support to the United Progressive Alliance government up to the fourteenth general election. After the fourteenth general election, its support became unnecessary when the UPA became the largest alliance. It contested the 2009 general election in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Lok Janshakti Party of Bihar.^[34]

In April 2014, the Save Indian Family Foundation encouraged voters to support the Samajwadi Party or vote None of the above because they had said they opposed the alleged misuse of gender bias laws.^[35]

SP-BSP Alliance

In 2019 general election, the Samajwadi Party was defeated by the BJP in Uttar Pradesh though allying with Bahujan Samaj Party.^[36] It became the thirteenth largest party in parliament.^[37] In the general elections of 2019, it won only five seats, while the BSP won 10.

INDIA

Recently, Samajwadi Party joined the newly formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance(I.N.D.I.A) formed as an umbrella alliance of opposition parties in India.^[38][39][40]

In the 2024 Indian general election, the Samajwadi Party achieved a historic breakthrough by winning 37 seats, making it the third-largest party in the 18th Lok Sabha. In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party contested the elections in alliance with the Indian National Congress. Together, they secured 43 out of the 80 seats in the state, marking a significant gain for the INDIA Alliance.

Presence in state assemblies

The SP has two MLAs in Maharashtra and one MLA in the 2022 Gujarat assembly election.

Samajwadi Prahari and Samajwadi Sanwad

Under the guidance of Kailash Chaurasia, who was the Minister of State in the Government of Uttar Pradesh and under the direction of Dr.Arvind Srivastava, Shri Shivendra Nandan ^[41] made the formal announcement of the formation of Samajwadi Sentinel and in this sequence, Samajwadi Samvad to put forward the public's views. He reportedly cited the fight for equal rights for all races and issues related to inequality in youth-related matters as the main issues presented. The Samajwadi Party has front line campaigning groups.^[42] Ongoing debate on party policy comes from many of their leaders. Among them are:

1. Chhatra Sabha Sanwad
2. Yuvjan Sabha Sanwad
3. Samajwadi prahari Sanwad
4. Mulayam Singh Youth Brigade Sanwad
5. Lohiya Vahini Sanwad
6. Shikshak Sabha Sanwad
7. Vyapar Sabha Sanwad
8. Adhivakta Sabha Sanwad
9. Ambedkar Vahini Samwad

Electoral performances

Lok Sabha Elections

Lok Sabha Term	Lok Sabha	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	State (seats)	Ref
11th Lok Sabha	1996	111	17 / 543	3.3%	Uttar Pradesh (16), Bihar (1)	[43]
12th Lok Sabha	1998	166	19 / 543	4.9%	Uttar Pradesh (19)	[44]
13th Lok Sabha	1999	151	26 / 543	3.8%	Uttar Pradesh (26)	[45]
14th Lok Sabha	2004	237	36 / 543	4.3%	Uttar Pradesh (35), Uttarakhand (1)	[46]
15th Lok Sabha	2009	193	23 / 543	3.4%	Uttar Pradesh (23)	[47]
16th Lok Sabha	2014	197	5 / 543	3.4%	Uttar Pradesh (5)	[48]
17th Lok Sabha	2019	49	5 / 543	2.6%	Uttar Pradesh (5)	[49]
18th Lok Sabha	2024	62	37 / 543	4.58%	Uttar Pradesh (37)	[50]

Assembly Elections

Vidhan Sabha Term	UP Elections	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	Party Votes	Ref
Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
12th Vidhan Sabha	1993	256	109 / 425	17.94%	8,963,697	[51]
13th Vidhan Sabha	1996	281	110 / 425	21.80%	12,085,226	[52]
14th Vidhan Sabha	2002	390	143 / 403	25.37%	13,612,509	[53]
15th Vidhan Sabha	2007	393	97 / 403	25.43%	13,267,674	[54]
16th Vidhan Sabha	2012	401	224 / 403	29.15%	22,107,241	[55]
17th Vidhan Sabha	2017	311	47 / 403	21.82%	18,923,689	[56]
18th Vidhan Sabha	2022	347	111 / 403	32.06%	29,543,934	[57]
Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly
11th Vidhan Sabha	1998	228	4 / 320	1.58%	419,626	[58]
12th Vidhan Sabha	2003	161	7 / 230	3.71%	946,891	[59]
13th Vidhan Sabha	2008	187	1 / 230	1.90%	501,324	[60]
14th Vidhan Sabha	2013	161	0 / 230	1.2%	404,853	[61]
15th Vidhan Sabha	2018	52	1 / 230	1.3%	496,025	[62]
16th Vidhan Sabha	2023	71	0 / 230	0.46%	200,069
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
9th Vidhan Sabha	1995	22	3 / 288	0.93%	356,731	[63]
10th Vidhan Sabha	1999	15	2 / 288	0.7%	227,640	[64]
11th Vidhan Sabha	2004	95	0 / 288	1.13%	471,425	[65]
12th Vidhan Sabha	2009	31	4 / 288	1.11%	337,378	[66]
13th Vidhan Sabha	2014	22	1 / 288	0.17%	92,304	[67]
14th Vidhan Sabha	2019	7	2 / 288	0.22%	123,267	[68]
15th Vidhan Sabha	2024	9	2 / 288	0.38%	246,350	[69]

List of chief ministers

No.	Name Constituency	Term of office[70][71]		Tenure length	Party[a]	Assembly[72] (Election)	Ref
1	Mulayam Singh Yadav Jaswantnagar	4 December 1993	3 June 1995	1 year, 181 days	Samajwadi Party	Twelfth Assembly (1993–95) (1993 election)	[73]
(1)	Mulayam Singh Yadav Gunnaur	29 August 2003	13 May 2007	3 years, 257 days	Samajwadi Party	Fourteenth Assembly (2002–07) (2002 election)	[73]
2	Akhilesh Yadav MLC	15 March 2012	19 March 2017	5 years, 4 days	Samajwadi Party	Sixteenth Assembly (2012–17) (2012 election)	[74]

1. This column only names the chief minister's party. The state government he or she heads may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.

List of union ministers

No.	Photo	Portfolio	Name (Lifespan)	Assumed office	Left office	Duration	Constituency (House)	Prime Minister
1		Minister of Defence	Mulayam Singh Yadav (1939–2022)	1 June 1996	21 April 1997	1 year, 290 days	Mainpuri (Lok Sabha)			Deve Gowda
				21 April 1997	18 March 1998			I.K. Gujral
2		Minister of Communications (MoS(I/C) until 10 July 1996)	Beni Prasad Verma (1941–2020)	29 June 1996	21 April 1997	1 year, 263 days	Kaiserganj (Lok Sabha)	Deve Gowda
				21 April 1997	19 March 1998			I.K. Gujral
		Minister of Communications (MoS)		1 June 1996	29 June 1996	28 days		Deve Gowda
		Minister of Parliamentary Affairs (MoS)
3		Minister of Health and Family Welfare [MoS(I/C)]	Saleem Iqbal Shervani (born 1953)	29 June 1996	21 April 1997	345 days	Badaun (Lok Sabha)	Deve Gowda
				21 April 1997	9 June 1997			I.K. Gujral
		Minister of Health and Family Welfare (MoS)		1 June 1996	29 June 1996	28 days		Deve Gowda
		Minister of External Affairs (MoS)		9 June 1997	19 March 1998	283 days		I.K. Gujral
4		Minister of Water Resource	Janeshwar Mishra (1933–2010)	29 June 1996	21 April 1997	345 days	Uttar Pradesh (Rajya Sabha)	Deve Gowda
				21 April 1997	9 June 1997			I.K. Gujral
		Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas		9 June 1997	19 March 1998	283 days

Prominent members

• Mulayam Singh Yadav, founder and former President of Samajwadi Party, former Defence minister of India and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.^[75][76][77]
• Akhilesh Yadav, President of Samajwadi Party and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.^[78][79]
• Azam Khan, Member of Parliament, 9 time MLA, Member of Parliament Loksabha Rampur former cabinet minister of Uttar Pradesh and former Member of Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.^[80][81]
• Janeshwar Mishra, former cabinet minister, Government of India. Former Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha.
• Shivpal Singh Yadav, Former State President of Samajwadi Party, Member of Legislative Assembly from Jaswantnagar – 6th term, Former Cabinet Minister(UP Govt.), Former Leader of Opposition
• Beni Prasad Verma, former Union Cabinet Minister of India^[82]
• Awadhesh Prasad, General Secretary of Samajwadi Party, Former Cabinet Minister of Uttar Pradesh, founding member
• Anantram Jaiswal former Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Minister and Samajwadi Ideologist, Founding member
• Kiranmoy Nanda, Vice President of Samajwadi Party
• Naresh Uttam Patel, Former Uttar Pradesh State president of Samajwadi Party.^[83]
• Professor Ram Gopal Yadav, Party Leader in Rajya Sabha
• Jaya Bachchan, Indian actress and Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh.^[84]
• Ram Govind Chaudhary, Leader of opposition in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.^[85]
• Indrajit Saroj, National General Secretary, Deputy Leader of Opposition in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly^[86]
• Balram Yadav, 5 times elected as Member of Legislative Assembly from Atraulia Assembly constituency and 4 times as Member of Legislative Council, Former Cabinet Minister (UP Govt.), He is prominent leader in purvanchal( Eastern Uttar Pradesh).
• Sanjay Lathar, Leader of Opposition in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council.
• Dr. Sangram Yadav, 3 times Member of the Legislative Assembly (India) from Atraulia Assembly constituency and Whip/sachetak of Samajwadi party vidhan mandal dal.
• Abu Asim Azmi, Samajwadi Party Maharashtra state President, Member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and former Member of Rajya Sabha.
• Mohan Singh, former Member of Parliament Rajya Sabha
• Harendra Singh Malik, former MP Rajya Sabha, prominent Jat leader from Western Uttar Pradesh.
• Pankaj Kumar Malik, MLA from Charthawal Assembly Seat.
• Vishambhar Prasad Nishad, Samajwadi Party General Secretary, Rajya Sabha MP, former Member of Lok Sabha, and former Cabinet Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
• Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, Prominent Sikh leader and former cabinet minister of Uttar Pradesh.
• Anand Singh, leader, ex 5 time MP and MLA from Gonda district, and former Cabinet Minister of Agriculture from Uttar Pradesh Government, under Akhilesh Yadav from 2012 to 2014.

State leadership

• Abu Asim Azmi: Maharashtra
• Shyamlal Pal: Uttar Pradesh
• Dr.Manoj Yadav: Madhya Pradesh
• Satyanarayan Sachan: Uttarakhand
• Manjappa Yadav: Karnataka
• Devendra Upadhyaya: Gujarat
• Manas Bhattacharya: West Bengal
• Mukesh Yadav: Rajasthan
• Sukhvinder Singh: Punjab
• Dr Saji Pothen Thomas: Kerala
• B Jagadeesh Yadav: Andhra Pradesh
• Om Prakash Sahu:Chhattisgarh

See also

• List of political parties in India
• Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance