Akhilesh Yadav-led SP seals alliance with RLD for Lok Sabha polls

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal on Friday announced their alliance for the 2024 general elections. RLD will contest seven seats. The announcement comes even as SP continues seat-sharing talks with the Congress.

RLD had contested Mathura, Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar in alliance with SP in 2019, but all three candidates, including the then chief Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Singh lost.

However, RLD's performance in the 2022 assembly elections, where it won 8 seats, apart from the Khatauli bypoll, may have helped RLD to have more seats allotted for it by the bigger partner.


Both the parties had contested the 2022 assembly elections in an alliance in which the SP had won 111 seats while the RLD bagged 8 seats. The Jayant Singh-led party draws its support largely from Jats and Muslims - two of the most dominant voter classes in western UP, along with Dalits.

An RLD leader on condition of anonymity said the party will contest Baghpat, Mathura, Muzaffarnagar, Kairana, Amroha, Hathras and Meerut.

However, an SP leader said seats have only been earmarked for RLD but they would be finalised only after talks with Congress is complete. RLD is most likely to get Mathura, Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar, its traditional seats, in any case.

UP has 80 Lok Sabha seats.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav and RLD chief Jayant Singh announced the tie-up on social media for the elections later this year. "Congratulations on the alliance between SP and RLD. Everybody should come together for victory," Yadav said.

"Always ready for the protection of national and constitutional values, it is our hope from the workers of our alliance to work together for the development and prosperity of their region," Singh said on X.

After the two parties, which are part of the opposition INDIA bloc, finalised their plan to go ahead together in the Lok Sabha polls, it is to be seen how the Congress proceeds in terms of seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh.