2024 Lok Sabha elections: 65 seats one of the suggestions, says Akhilesh Yadav on party spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan Chand's statement

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has played down the statement of party spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan Chand that SP would contest 65 of 80 UP seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Yadav said Chand's statement was based on one of the many suggestions presented at a party meeting, but SP would not 'disappoint allies'.

"The statistics came up because members of the state executive gave many suggestions on the number of seats SP should contest or claim. But I would like to clarify that whenever we have been part of an alliance, we have always tried not to disappoint our alliance partners," Yadav told journalists in Saharanpur on Thursday. He exuded confidence that the INDIA bloc would use SP's 'PDA' (Picchda, Dalit Alpsankhyak) strategy to defeat NDA.

Chand had told journalists after SP state executive committee meeting in Lucknow on Wednesday that the party would contest 65 seats and leave 15 for Congress and RLD.


A senior SP leader on condition of anonymity dubbed Chand's statement as 'overzealousness'. In an interaction with ET, the leader said that the party had discussed a range of 50-65 seats at the meeting. Talks are not expected to begin before conclusion of the November assembly polls.

Though seat-sharing discussions have not begun, Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance constituents have been posturing on their expectations. RLD has said that it would contest 12 seats, while Congress insiders expect the party to contest more than 20 seats, referencing the party's 2009 tally, when it won 21 Lok Sabha seats in UP. SP leaders privately disagree with Congress' expectations.