From 2022 UP Assembly Elections To 2024 Lok Sabha Polls, All Samajwadi Party Allies Left Akhilesh Yadav; Here's Timeline

In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) contested in alliance with three parties and all of them drifted apart from SP before the Lok Sabha polls.

[The fourth party was the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) which contested only one seat. It is still part of the Congress-led INDI Alliance together with SP but is unlikely to contest any Lok Sabha seat in UP.]

The latest departure is of Apna Dal (Kamerwadi), who on Wednesday (20 March) said that it would be contesting three seats of Phoolpur, Mirzapur and Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh under the INDI Alliance.

However, a day later, when Akhilesh Yadav was asked about the alliance with Apna Dal (K), he casually said, "The alliance was of 2022, it is not in 2024."

This comes weeks after Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) broke its alliance with the SP and joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). RLD will be contesting two Lok Sabha seats of Bijnor and Baghpat.

The first party to leave the SP-led alliance after the 2022 elections was Om Prakash Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP). The party rejoined NDA in July 2023.

Rajbhar became a minister in the Yogi Adityanath Cabinet earlier this month. RLD MLA Anil Kumar too became a minister as part of BJP's deal with the RLD.

While the SP lost three allies since the 2022 elections and gained one -- Congress, the BJP kept its alliance with the NISHAD Party and Apna Dal (Sonelal) intact and gained two allies -- RLD and SBSP.

However, none of these alliances have declared a seat-sharing arrangement for the Lok Sabha elections. Till now, the BJP has declared 50 candidates in UP and the SP has declared 47.