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 politician Mulayam Singh Yadav 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,

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 ...

Mulayam Singh Yadav, 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 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 Janata Dal 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 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 of

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 Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh,

. 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, 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 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 of

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(I.N.D.I.A) formed as an umbrella alliance of opposition parties in India. In the 2024 Indian general election, 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.

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

* Mulayam Singh Yadav, 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 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, 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, 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 * Beni Prasad Verma, former Union Cabinet Minister of India * Awadhesh Prasad, General Secretary of Samajwadi Party, Former Cabinet Minister of Uttar Pradesh, founding member * Anantram Jaiswal 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, Founding member *

, Vice President of Samajwadi Party * Naresh Uttam Patel, Former Uttar Pradesh State president of Samajwadi Party. * Professor Ram Gopal Yadav, 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, 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, National General Secretary, Deputy Leader of Opposition in

* Balram Yadav, 5 times elected as

from Atraulia Assembly constituency and 4 times as Member of Legislative Council, Former Cabinet Minister (UP Govt.), He is prominent leader in purvanchal( Eastern Uttar Pradesh). * Sanjay Lathar, Leader of Opposition in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council. * Dr. Sangram Yadav, 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 Atraulia Assembly constituency and Whip/sachetak of Samajwadi party vidhan mandal dal. * Abu Asim Azmi, Samajwadi Party Maharashtra state President, Member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and former Member of

. * Mohan Singh, former Member of Parliament Rajya Sabha * Harendra Singh Malik, former MP Rajya Sabha, prominent Jat leader from Western Uttar Pradesh. * Pankaj Kumar Malik, MLA from Charthawal Assembly Seat. * Vishambhar Prasad Nishad, Samajwadi Party General Secretary,

MP, former Member of

, and former Cabinet Minister of

. * Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, 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

* Abu Asim Azmi: 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