Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav hard-sold himself as development man

NEW DELHI: As a child, he was affectionately called 'Tipu', a nickname that stayed with him in his political career. But on Monday, UP CM Akhilesh Yadav emerged as the undisputed Samajwadi Sultan, with the Election Commission recognising the faction led by him as the real party, entitled to use the 'cycle' symbol in the looming state polls.

The poll watchdog's decision to hand over the party founded, nurtured and sustained by father Mulayam Singh Yadav to Akhilesh was based on its conclusion that the young CM had the support of the majority of SP members. The order defied the widely held estimate, including that of the Akhilesh faction as well as of its allies and rivals, that the EC might freeze the 'cycle' symbol. This is a boost to the young CM, which legitimises his insurrection against father Mulayam and reduces the crucial UP polls to a three-horse race by virtually eliminating the SP patriarch as a serious contender.

With the first phase of UP polls scheduled for February 11, Mulayam does not have enough time to register and launch his own party (the process can take 2-3 months). If he still wishes to contest the polls, he may have to resort to using nearly defunct platforms like Bharatiya Lok Dal.


The development clears the way for Congress to align with Akhilesh. However, it can potentially create complications for BSP's bid to garner the crucial Muslim vote in the state.

BSP had reckoned that a vertical split in SP, the usual favourite among Muslims, would lead the community to look at BSP as its best bet for defeating BJP. The EC order could interfere with the calculation. This could also create complications for BJP. The CM has hard-sold himself as a development man. Having broken free of the old Samajwadi stamp, and in alliance with Congress, he could woo the constituency that was looking for a break from the SP-BSP duopoly. BJP, however, can hope to gain from the splintering of the Muslim vote which has consistently gone against it. Party tacticians also think that Akhilesh will find it difficult to throw out all the "bahubalis", and that Mulayam still has it in him to poach a chunk of SP's Muslim-Yadav vote bank.

Akhilesh's counsel in the EC, Congress member of Rajya Sabha Kapil Sibal, said the CM had the support of the overwhelming majority of MLAs, MLCs, MPs and party office-bearers. "The commission just followed the law," he said. As per a table put out by the EC based on individual affidavits submitted by Ram Gopal Yadav, Akhilesh had the support of 205 out of a total of 228 MLAs and 56 of 68 MLCs in UP, 15 of 24 Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha members, 28 of 46 members of SP's national executive, and 4,400 of 5,731 delegates who had attended the last party convention in 2014. In contrast, the Mulayam group did not file any affidavit by an MP, MLA, MLC or delegate. In all his replies to the EC, the SP stalwart only made the contention that there was no split in the party that needed determination under Para 15 of the Symbols Order.

Explaining the rationale behind not having frozen the SP symbol, an EC official told TOI that "facts and documents on record left little doubt that the Akhilesh faction had overwhelming support from party members..." The official said with the recognition of the Akhilesh group as real 'SP', the MSY faction was left with little choice but to accept the CM's leadership. "At most, the only (other) alternative available to him... is to fight under the name & symbol of a party already registered with EC," said the official.