Chandrashekhar Azad, Owaisi explore third front to take on BJP, SP in UP elections

New Delhi: A third political front is taking shape in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2027 assembly elections, with Chandrashekhar Azad's ASP (Kanshi Ram) and Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM likely to announce an alliance as early as Thursday.

The two parties are understood to be working out the contours of the alliance, including seat-sharing. While the Azad Samaj Party primarily projects itself as a Dalit and backward communities' outfit, AIMIM is essentially a Muslim political party, making the proposed tie-up an attempt to bring the two social constituencies onto a common electoral platform.

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The proposed front is looking at contesting more than 200 seats, particularly constituencies with a sizable Dalit and Muslim population, potentially adding a new dimension to the electoral contest between the BJP and Samajwadi Party-led Opposition. The AIMIM is likely to contest around 40-50 seats, while the Azad Samaj Party could field candidates in around 150 constituencies.

The possibility of other smaller outfits joining the proposed front ahead of the polls is also being explored.

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Talking to ET, Azad said, he and Owaisi "would finalise the details of the alliance and will announce at the earliest. At present, there is a broader understanding to contest polls together and focus on seats where our core vote base has substantial presence."

The electoral arithmetic makes the proposed alliance significant, as Uttar Pradesh has an estimated 21% Dalit and 19% Muslim population, together accounting for around 40% of the state's population.

Azad's party has already announced candidates for 87 assembly constituencies, with its two lists reflecting an emphasis on social representation. Of these, 38 candidates are from Scheduled Castes, 29 from OBC communities, 19 are Muslims and one is a Sikh.

The proposed front could emerge as a potential disruptor in the electoral calculations especially for the SP-Congress combine. The Azad Samaj Party is counting on the weakening of the BSP, which has traditionally commanded a substantial Dalit support base in the state, to expand its footprint. However, whether the proposed alliance can translate this into electoral gains remains an open question.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Muslim voters largely consolidated behind the SP-Congress alliance, while a large section of Dalit voters also shifted towards the Opposition, contributing to the BJP's electoral setbacks.

The BSP, once the preferred political platform for a large section of Dalits, has seen a considerable decline in its electoral strength. While the BSP's decline has created political space for Azad's party, the proposed front faces an uphill task in dislodging the existing voting preferences in UP. A large section of Dalit voters, along with Muslim voters keen to keep the BJP out of power, could continue to favour the SP-Congress combine, as they did in 2024.

The extent to which the new alliance can attract these voters, rather than merely divide the Opposition vote, will be crucial in determining its electoral impact.