Samajwadi Party (abbr. SP; translation: Socialist Party, founded 4 October, 1992) is a social democratic political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi. It is mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with a significant presence in other states as well.
History
The Samajwadi Party was one of several parties that emerged when the Janata Dal (People’s League) fragmented into several regional parties. The party was founded by Mulayam Singh Yadav in 1992. Created just months before the Babri Masjid demolition, the party is said to having played a key role in preventing violence within the state following the event. The Samajwadi Party is now led by former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav after he was chosen the President by the National Convention held on 1 January, 2017.
The Samajwadi Party is primarily based in Uttar Pradesh State. It has contested Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections around the country, though its successes have been mainly 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. It became official on 15 March. It was also the first time that SP was head of the UP government for a full term of 5 years. 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.
Proposed merger
In 2014, there was a proposed merger of Samajwadi Party with some other Janata Parivar parties uniting with Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar.
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 party.
Position in state and national politics
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.
In the last general election, the Samajwadi Party was defeated by the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. It is currently the thirteenth largest party in parliament. In the general elections of 2019, it won only 5 seats, while the Indian National Congress gained 52 seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party obtained a clear mandate with 303 seats.
In West Bengal, the West Bengal Socialist Party of Kiranmoy Nanda merged with the SP. The SP has two MLA each in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
In April 2014, the Save Indian Family Foundation encouraged voters to support the Samajwadi Party or vote None of the above because the Samajwadi Party had stated that it opposed the alleged misuse of gender bias laws.
Samajwadi Prahari and Samajwadi Sanwad
The Samajwadi Party has Samajwadi Prahari frontline groups.Party has leading leaders from different fields Through Samajwadi Sanwad, the revolutionary ideas of these leaders will be spread in the society. Some of them are:
- Chhatra Sabha Sanwad
- Yuvjan Sabha Sanwad
- Samajwadi prahari Sanwad
- Mulayam Singh Youth Brigade Sanwad
- Lohiya Vahini Sanwad
- Shikshak Sabha Sanwad
- Vyapar Sabha Sanwad
- Adhivakta Sabha Sanwad
- Ambedkar Vahini Samwad
Electoral performances
Lok Sabha (Lower House)
| Lok Sabha Term | Indian General Election |
Seats contested |
Seats won |
% of votes |
% of votes in seats contested |
State (seats) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11th Lok Sabha | 1996 | 111 | 16 | 3.3% | Uttar Pradesh (16) | |
| 12th Lok Sabha | 1998 | 166 | 19 | 4.9% | Uttar Pradesh (19) | |
| 13th Lok Sabha | 1999 | 151 | 26 | 3.8% | 14% | Uttar Pradesh (26) |
| 14th Lok Sabha | 2004 | 237 | 36 | 4.3% | 10.3% | Uttar Pradesh (35) Uttarakhand (1) |
| 15th Lok Sabha | 2009 | 193 | 23 | 3.4% | 10.1% | Uttar Pradesh (23) |
| 16th Lok Sabha | 2014 | 197 | 5 | 3.4% | 9.6% | Uttar Pradesh (5) |
| 17th Lok Sabha | 2019 | 49 | 5 | 2.6% | 28.9% | Uttar Pradesh (5) |
Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha (Lower House)
| Vidhan Sabha Term | UP elections |
Seats contested |
Seats won |
% of votes |
Party Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12th Vidhan Sabha | 1993 | 256 | 109 | 17.94 | 0,89,63,697 |
| 13th Vidhan Sabha | 1996 | 281 | 110 | 21.80 | 1,20,85,226 |
| 14th Vidhan Sabha | 2002 | 390 | 143 | 25.37 | 1,36,12,509 |
| 15th Vidhan Sabha | 2007 | 393 | 97 | 25.43 | 1,32,67,674 |
| 16th Vidhan Sabha | 2012 | 401 | 224 | 29.15 | 2,21,07,241 |
| 17th Vidhan Sabha | 2017 | 311 | 47 | 21.82 | 1,89,23,689 |
Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha (Lower House)
| Vidhan Sabha Term | MP elections | Seat contested | Seats won | % of votes | Party Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11th Assembly | 1998 | 228 | 4 | 1.58 | |
| 12th Assembly | 2003 | 161 | 7 | 3.71 | |
| 13th Assembly | 2008 | 187 | 1 | 1.90 | |
| 14th Assembly | 2013 | 161 | 0 | 1.2 | 404853 |
| 15th Assembly | 2018 | 52 | 1 | 1.3 | 496025 |
Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha (Lower House)
| Vidhan Sabha Term | Maharastra Elections | Seat contested | Seats Won | % of votes | Party votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9th Assembly | 1995 | 22 | 3 | 0.93 | 356731 |
| 10th Assembly | 1999 | 15 | 2 | 227640 | |
| 11th Assembly | 2004 | 95 | 0 | 1.13 | 471425 |
| 12th Assembly | 2009 | 31 | 4 | 1.11 | 337378 |
| 13th Assembly | 2014 | 22 | 1 | 0.17 | 92304 |
| 14th Assembly | 2019 | 7 | 2 | 0.22 | 123267 |
List of Chief Ministers
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2012 to 2017, Akhilesh Yadav
| No. | Name Constituency |
Term of office | Tenure length | Party | Assembly (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) |
|
| (1) | Mulayam Singh Yadav Gunnaur |
29 August 2003 | 13 May 2007 | 3 years, 257 days | Samajwadi Party | Fourteenth Assembly (2002–07) (2002 election) |
|
| 2 | Akhilesh Yadav MLC |
15 March 2012 | 19 March 2017 | 5 years, 4 days | Samajwadi Party | Sixteenth Assembly (2012–17) (2012 election) |
|
- ^ This column only names the chief minister’s party. The state government he heads may be a complex coalition of several parties and independents; these are not listed here.
List of Central Ministers
| No. | Name | Term of office | Portfolio | Prime Minister | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mulayam Singh Yadav | 1 June 1996 | 19 March 1998 | Minister of Defence | H. D. Deve Gowda I. K. Gujral |
|
| 2 | Janeshwar Mishra | 10 July 1996 | May 1997 | Minister of Water Resources | H. D. Deve Gowda I. K. Gujral |
|
| 3 | Beni Prasad Verma | 21 April 1997 | 19 March 1998 | Minister of Communications | I. K. Gujral | |
Prominent members
- Mulayam Singh Yadav, founder and former President of Samajwadi Party, former Defence minister of India and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
- Janeshwar Mishra, founder and former cabinet minister
- Akhilesh Yadav, President of Samajwadi Party and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
- Naresh Uttam Patel, current Uttar Pradesh State president of Samajwadi Party.
- 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.
- Jaya Bachchan,Indian actress and Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh.
- Ram Govind Chaudhary, Leader of opposition in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
- 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
- Vishambhar Prasad Nishad, Samajwadi Party General Secretary, Rajya Sabha MP, former Member of Lok Sabha and former Cabinet Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
- Syed Arshad ,Former Vice President Samajwadi Yuvajan Sabha,
Former Chairman Dairy Cooperative Union Ministry of Dairy Development Uttar Pradesh