Samajwadi Party

Samajwadi Party
समाजवादी पार्टी
Chairperson Mulayam Singh Yadav
Secretary-General Kiranmoy Nanda
Lok Sabha leader Mulayam Singh
Rajya Sabha leader Ram Gopal Yadav
Founded 4 October 1992
Headquarters 18 Copernicus Lane, New Delhi
Newspaper Samajwadi Bulletin[1]
Student wing Samajwadi Chatra Sabha[2]
Youth wing Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha
Mulayam Singh Youth Brigade[3]
Women's wing Lohiya Vahini
Samajwadi Party Mahila Sabha[4]
Ideology Left-wing populism
Democratic socialism[5]
Political position Left-wing
Colours Red
ECI Status State Party[6]
Alliance Left Front (1992-2015)
Janata Parivar (2015-present)
Seats in Lok Sabha
5 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha
15 / 245
Seats in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
230 / 403
Website
Official Website

Samajwadi Party (SP; translation: Socialist Party; founded 4 October 1992) is a recognised state political party in India based in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP). It describes itself as a democratic socialist party.[7]

The Samajwadi Party was one of several parties that emerged when the Janata Dal (People's League) fragmented into several regional parties. The Samajwadi Party is led by Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Electoral record

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 assembly election in Madhya Pradesh in 2003, the Samajwadi Party gained 7 seats, making it the third largest party in the state. When its candidate won the by-election of Lanji (Balaghat) in 2007, its total tally reached 8. 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 the government in the state. This was expected to be the fifth term of Mulayam Singh Yadav as Chief Minister of state, but he surprised everyone by selecting his son, Akhilesh Yadav, to be the new chief minister (the youngest ever). 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.[8][9]

Position in state and national politics

The Samajawadi Party was providing outside support to the United Progressive Alliance government till the sixteenth general election, After sixteenth general election its support becomes insignificant as UPA becomes largest alliance. It contested the 2009 general election in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Lok Janshakti Party of Bihar.[10]

In the last general election Samajwadi Party was defeated by the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.[11] It is currently thirteenth largest party in parliament.[12] In general elections in 2014, it won only 5 seats, Indian National Congress with 44 seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party getting a clear mandate of 282 seats.

In West Bengal, West Bengal Socialist Party of Kiranmoy Nanda had merged with SP. SP has two MLAs in Bihar and one MLA each in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

In April 2014, the Save Family Foundation encouraged voters to support Samajwadi Party or vote none of the above because Samajwadi Party stated that it opposes the alleged misuse of gender bias laws.[13]

Muzzaffarnagar riots

The clashes between the Hindu and Muslim communities in Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India in August - September 2013, resulted in at least 49 deaths and injured 93 and left more than 50,000 displaced.[14][15][16][17] By 17 September, the curfew was lifted from all riot affected areas and the army was also withdrawn.[18]

The riot has been described as "the worst violence in Uttar Pradesh in recent history"; the army's deployment was its first in the state for 20 years.[19] the Supreme Court of India, while hearing petitions in relation to the riots, held the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party prima facie guilty of negligence in preventing the violence and ordered it to immediately arrest all those accused irrespective of their political affiliation. The court also blamed the Central government for its failure to provide intelligence input to the Samajwadi Party-ruled state government in time to help sound alerts.[20]

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.[21]

Notable SP figures

List of Chief Minister

References

  1. "Command performance:The Samajwadi Party has national general secretary and Mulayam clan-member Ramgopal Yadav as editor of the Samajwadi Bulletin.".
  2. "SP chatra sabha declares 70 district unit presidents name".
  3. "SP reinstates youth wings' office-bearers with a rider".
  4. "SP appoints presidents of nine frontal organisations".
  5. Samajwadi Party :: Official Website. Samajwadiparty.in. Retrieved on 21 May 2014.
  6. "List of Political Parties and Election Symbols main Notification Dated 18.01.2013" (PDF). India: Election Commission of India. 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  7. "Why Uttar Pradesh is India's battleground state". BBC News.
  8. "Assembly Elections May 2013 Results". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  9. "Assembly Elections 2012 - The end of Mayayug in UP". IndiaVoice. 6 March 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  10. "SP, RJD, LJP Front to kickstart UP campaign on Apr 9". Times of India. 5 April 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  11. "SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav admits he 'almost lost the Lok Sabha polls'". Mail Online. 6 January 2015.
  12. "Sixteenth LokSabha Party wise". loksabha.nic.in. LokSabha. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  13. Anuraag Singh (17 April 2014). "Vote for Samajwadi Party or press Nota: Mulayam". Indiatimes. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  14. "Troops deployed to quell deadly communal clashes between Hindus, Muslims in north India". Associated Press. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  15. Adrija Bose (8 September 2013). "Firstpost India IBN7 journalist killed in UP communal riots, Army clamps curfewIBN7 journalist killed in UP communal riots, Army clamps curfew". Firstpost. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  16. Ahmed Ali Fayyaz (8 September 2013). "9 killed in communal riots in Muzaffarnagar, curfew clamped, army deployed". The Indian Express. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  17. "Fresh clashes in UPs Muzaffarnagar leave 26 dead, Army deployed in affected areas". The Hindustan Times. 7 September 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  18. "Muzaffarnagar riots: normalcy returns, army leaves". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
  19. "An old curse returns". The Economist.
  20. Anand, Utkarsh (26 March 2014). "SC holds Akhilesh govt guilty of negligence, orders arrest of all Muzaffarnagar accused". Indian Express. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  21. "Merger of RJD, JD-U, SP would take place after Kharmas: Lalu". 27 December 2014.
  22. "UP PWD minister Shivpal Yadav lays foundation of 61 projects - The Times of India". The Times Of India.
  23. Parties united in concealing rally spend - TOI Mobile | The Times of India Mobile Site. M.timesofindia.com (10 November 2013). Retrieved on 21 May 2014.

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