The Samajwadi Party ( SP; ) is a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

political party in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former

Janata Dal Janata Dal () was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha on 11 October 1988—the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Na ...

politician

Mulayam Singh Yadav Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialism, socialist figure and founder of the Samajwadi Party. Over the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three t ...

and is headquartered in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. It is the third-largest political party in India, and is led by former

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh is the head of the Government of Uttar Pradesh. As per the Constitution of India, the Governor (India), governor is the state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minis ...

Akhilesh Yadav Akhilesh Yadav (; born 1 July 1973) is an Indian politician and national president of the Samajwadi Party who served as the 20th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Having assumed the chief minister's office on 15 March 2012 at the age of 38, he ...

. While the party is largely based in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

, it has significant presence in many other Indian states as well. It has been the ruling party in the state of Uttar Pradesh for four terms – three times under

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

, the fourth and most recent being

's full majority government in the 2012–2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. The coalition of the party and its alliance partners:

Samajwadi Alliance Samajwadi Alliance (SP+; ), is a major political alliance led by the Samajwadi Party in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election Rashtriya Lok Dal, RLD was the first to join the alliance. The Nationalis ...

SP+ is currently the largest bloc in Uttar Pradesh in terms of

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

MPs. The alliance has one of the largest vote bases in the state of Uttar Pradesh in terms of the collective voting pattern, with more than 37% vote share in the 2022 assembly elections and 44% in the 2024 general elections.

History

Party symbolism - Flickr - Al Jazeera English

The Samajwadi Party was one of several parties that emerged when

fragmented into several regional parties. The party was founded by

in 1992. Created just months before the

Babri Masjid demolition The Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque in the Indian city of Ayodhya, was destroyed on 6 December 1992 by a large group of activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organisations. The mosque had been the subject of a lengthy socio ...

, the party rose to power by pursuing secular politics. The support of its key voters, Other Backward Classes and Muslims helped the party become a major political force in Uttar Pradesh. In

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, the

West Bengal Socialist Party West Bengal Socialist Party (WBSP) was a political party in the Indian state of West Bengal. WBSP was formed when the Bengali socialists in the then Janata Party split in the beginning of the 1980s (the other faction became the Democratic Soci ...

Kiranmoy Nanda Kiranmoy Nanda (born 16 May 1944) is an Indian politician, belonging to the Samajwadi Party. He was the Fisheries Minister in the Left Front (West Bengal), Left Front cabinet in the state of West Bengal since 1982 till 2011 when he was succeede ...

merged with the SP in 2010. The Samajwadi Party is now led by former

. He was chosen as the President for the first time in an Emergency meeting in 2017. He was chosen for second time in 2017 at Agra Convention of Samajwadi Party. He was chosen for the third time at the party's national convention held in September 2022 at Lucknow, after he was chosen as the President at the party's national convention held on 1 January 2017. The party have contested

and State Assembly elections around the country, but by far the bulk of its victories have been 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. This became official on 15 March. It was also the first time that SP was head of the UP government for a full term of five years. However, the party suffered a landslide defeat in the

2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Election The election to the 17th Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly was held from 11 February to 8 March 2017 in 7 phases. This election saw a voter turnout of 61.11% compared to 59.40% in the 2012 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, previous ...

, slumping to only 47 seats as the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

swept to victory. The major loss of Samajwadi Party was attributed to several factors, most notably being corruption, several political controversies, deteriorating law and order, and insensitive comments on rape as well as anti-women views.

National Convention of January 2017

In a National Convention held on 1 January 2017, called by Ram Gopal Yadav,

was appointed as president of the Party for 5 years.

Position in state and national politics

Alliance

UPA

The Samajwadi Party provided outside support to the

United Progressive Alliance The United Progressive Alliance (UPA; Hindi: Saṁyukta Pragatiśīl Gaṭhabandhan) was a Political group, political alliance in India led by the Indian National Congress. It was formed after the 2004 Indian general election, 2004 general ele ...

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 The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: National People's Party) is an Indian political party, mainly based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party's support base has traditionally been Other ...

and the

Lok Janshakti Party The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP, ) was a state political party mainly based in the state of Bihar, India. The party was formed in 2000 when Ram Vilas Paswan split from Janata Dal. The party had a considerable following amongst Dalits in Bihar. ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

. In April 2014, the Save Indian Family Foundation encouraged voters to support the Samajwadi Party or vote

None of the above "None of the above" (NOTA), or none for short, also known as "against all" or a "scratch" vote, is a ballot option in some jurisdictions or organizations, designed to allow the voter to indicate disapproval of the candidates in a voting system ...

because they had said they opposed the alleged misuse of gender bias laws.

SP-BSP Alliance

In 2019 general election, the Samajwadi Party was defeated by the BJP in Uttar Pradesh though allying with

Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP) is a political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), along with Religious ...

. It became the thirteenth largest party in parliament. In the general elections of 2019, it won only five seats, while the BSP won 10.

INDIA

Recently, Samajwadi Party joined the newly formed

Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is a big tent Political group, multi-party political alliance of several List of political parties in India, political parties in India led by the country's largest opposition party ...

(I.N.D.I.A) formed as an umbrella alliance of opposition parties in India. In the

2024 Indian general election General elections were held in Elections in India, India from 2024 elections in India, 19 April to 1 June 2024 in seven phases, to elect all List of constituencies of the Lok Sabha, 543 members of the Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the res ...

, the Samajwadi Party achieved a historic breakthrough by winning 37 seats, making it the third-largest party in the

18th Lok Sabha The 18th Lok Sabha was formed after general elections were held in India over seven phases from 19 April to 1 June 2024, to elect all members from 543 constituencies of the Lok Sabha. The votes were counted, and the results were declared on 4 ...

. In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party contested the elections in alliance with the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

. Together, they secured 43 out of the 80 seats in the state, marking a significant gain for the

INDIA Alliance The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is a big tent multi-party political alliance of several political parties in India led by the country's largest opposition party, the Indian National Congress. The alliance is in o ...

Presence in state assemblies

The SP has two MLAs in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

and one MLA in the 2022

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

assembly election.

Samajwadi Prahari and Samajwadi Sanwad

Under the guidance of Kailash Chaurasia, who was the Minister of State in the Government of Uttar Pradesh and under the direction of Dr.Arvind Srivastava, Shri Shivendra Nandan made the formal announcement of the formation of Samajwadi Sentinel and in this sequence, Samajwadi Samvad to put forward the public's views. He reportedly cited the fight for equal rights for all races and issues related to inequality in youth-related matters as the main issues presented. The Samajwadi Party has front line campaigning groups. Ongoing debate on party policy comes from many of their leaders. Among 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 Elections

Assembly Elections

List of chief ministers

List of union ministers

Prominent members

, founder and former President of Samajwadi Party, former Defence minister of India and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. *

, President of Samajwadi Party and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. * Azam Khan, Member of Parliament, 9 time MLA, Member of Parliament

Loksabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past-th ...

Rampur former cabinet minister of Uttar Pradesh and former Member of

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

from Uttar Pradesh. *

Janeshwar Mishra Janeshwar Mishra (5 August 1933 – 22 January 2010) was a politician from Samajwadi Party. He was a member of the Parliament of India and also represented Uttar Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. He was ...

, former cabinet minister,

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. Former Member of Parliament,

. *

Shivpal Singh Yadav Shivpal Singh Yadav (born 16 February 1955) is a politician and educationist from Uttar Pradesh, India. He was born in Saifai village, Etawah district, and is a younger brother of Samajwadi Party leader late Mulayam Singh Yadav and uncle of t ...

, Former State President of Samajwadi Party,

Member of Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several national ...

from Jaswantnagar – 6th term, Former Cabinet Minister(UP Govt.), Former

Leader of Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

* Beni Prasad Verma, former Union Cabinet Minister of India *

Awadhesh Prasad Awadhesh Prasad (born 31 July 1945) is an Indian politician who is a founding member of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and an MP in the 18th Lok Sabha representing Faizabad. He is presently the general secretary of the national executive of SP and h ...

, General Secretary of Samajwadi Party, Former Cabinet Minister of Uttar Pradesh, founding member *

Anantram Jaiswal Anantram Jaiswal (1 April 1924 - 17 January 2015) was a freedom fighter and Indian politician was also a Member of Parliament of India. He was a member of the 6th Lok Sabha and was also a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Jais ...

former

Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha A Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha ( abbreviated: MP) is the representative of a legislative constituency in the Lok Sabha; the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of parliament of Lok Sabha are chosen by direct elections ...

Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha A Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (abbreviated: MP) is the representative of the States and union territories of India, Indian states to the upper house of the Parliament of India which is known as "Rajya Sabha" (constitutionally "Cou ...

, Minister and Samajwadi

Ideologist An ideology is a set of beliefs or values attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Form ...

, Founding member *

, Vice President of Samajwadi Party *

Naresh Uttam Patel Naresh Uttam Patel (born 10 January 1956) is an Indian politician, leader of the Samajwadi Party and a former member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council. He first became an MLA as a Janata Dal candidate in 1989 and is one of the founding membe ...

, Former Uttar Pradesh State president of Samajwadi Party. * Professor

Ram Gopal Yadav Ram Gopal Yadav (born 29 June 1946) is an Indian politician from Uttar Pradesh. He is the Secretary-General of the Samajwadi Party and the Member of Parliament (MP) in Rajya Sabha, since 2008. Yadav also served as Lok Sabha MP of Sambhal fro ...

, Party Leader in Rajya Sabha *

Jaya Bachchan Jaya Bachchan (''née'' Bhaduri; born 9 April 1948) is an Indian actress and politician. She is regarded as one of the greatest actresses of Hindi cinema. She is serving as member of the parliament in the Rajya Sabha from the Samajwadi Party ...

, Indian actress and

MP from

. *

Ram Govind Chaudhary Ram Govind Chaudhary (born 9 July 1946) is one of the prominent socialist leaders of India who has served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from 2017 to 2022. He was in charge of Basic Education and Child ...

, Leader of opposition in

Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, also known as Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Indian state Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house. Member of the Legislative Assembl ...

. *

Indrajit Saroj Indrajit Saroj (born 14 January 1963) is a senior politician and National General Secretary of Samajwadi Party. He is currently Member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Manjhanpur Assembly constituency. Political life Indrajit Saro ...

, National General Secretary, Deputy Leader of Opposition in

Balram Yadav Balram Yadav is a leader of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. On 10 June 2016, he was re-elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council. He has four children including Sangram Yadav, also a politician of Samajwadi party. He is one of th ...

, 5 times elected as

from

Atraulia Assembly constituency Atraulia is a town and a Nagar Panchayat in the Azamgarh district within the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is famous for Eddy Electricals (India) Pvt Ltd. Geography Atraulia has an average elevation of 81 metres (265 feet). The ...

and 4 times as

Member of Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the British ( ...

, Former Cabinet Minister (UP Govt.), He is prominent leader in purvanchal( Eastern Uttar Pradesh). * Sanjay Lathar, Leader of Opposition in

Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council also known as Vidhan Parishad is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh, a state in India. Uttar Pradesh is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is bicameral, c ...

. * Dr.

Sangram Yadav Sangram Yadav is an Indian politician. He served as a member of 16th and 17th Legislative Assembly, Uttar Pradesh . He represents the Atraulia constituency in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, India, and is a member of the Samajwadi Party. ...

, 3 times

Member of the Legislative Assembly (India) A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district (constituency) to the legislature of States of India, State government in the Indian system of government. From each constituency, the ...

from

and Whip/sachetak of Samajwadi party vidhan mandal dal. *

Abu Asim Azmi Abu Asim Azmi (born 8 August 1955) is a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He represents the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Constituency, Mumbai. He belongs to the Samajwadi Party. He is the President of the Maharashtra state branch of ...

, Samajwadi Party Maharashtra state President, Member of

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (ISO: ''Mahārāṣṭra Vidhāna Sabhā'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Maharashtra state in western India. It consists of 288 members directly elected from single-seat constituenci ...

and former Member of

. *

Mohan Singh Mohan Singh (4 March 1945 – 22 September 2013) was an Indian politician from the Samajwadi Party. He was elected three times to the Lok Sabha from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh. He was the General Secretary of the Samajwadi Party. He died on 22 S ...

, former Member of Parliament Rajya Sabha *

Harendra Singh Malik Harendra Singh Malik () is a current Member of the Parliament of India from Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha in Uttar Pradesh. He previously served as a Member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, representing Haryana. Harendr ...

, former MP Rajya Sabha, prominent Jat leader from Western Uttar Pradesh. * Pankaj Kumar Malik, MLA from Charthawal Assembly Seat. *

Vishambhar Prasad Nishad Vishambhar Prasad Nishad (born 18 July 1962) is an Indian politician from the Samajwadi Party. He served as a cabinet minister of the Uttar Pradesh government three times and became a member of parliament for Fatehpur (Lok Sabha constituency ...

, Samajwadi Party General Secretary,

MP, former Member of

, and former Cabinet Minister of

. *

Balwant Singh Ramoowalia Balwant Singh Ramoowalia (born 15 March 1942) is an Indian politician from Samajwadi Party. His father Karnail Singh Paras was a well-known Kavishar. Balwant Singh started his political career with student politics as a general secretary of S ...

, Prominent

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

leader and former cabinet minister of

. * Anand Singh, leader, ex 5 time MP and MLA from Gonda district, and former Cabinet Minister of Agriculture from Uttar Pradesh Government, under

from 2012 to 2014.

State leadership

: Maharashtra * Shyamlal Pal: Uttar Pradesh * Dr.Manoj Yadav: Madhya Pradesh * Satyanarayan Sachan: Uttarakhand * Manjappa Yadav: Karnataka * Devendra Upadhyaya: Gujarat * Manas Bhattacharya: West Bengal *Mukesh Yadav: Rajasthan *Sukhvinder Singh: Punjab *Dr Saji Pothen Thomas: Kerala *B Jagadeesh Yadav: Andhra Pradesh *Om Prakash Sahu:Chhattisgarh

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1992 establishments in Uttar Pradesh Democratic socialist parties in Asia Full member parties of the Socialist International Janata Parivar Left-wing parties Political parties established in 1992 Populist parties Progressive Alliance Member parties of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance