Samajwadi Party


Samajwadi Party is a political party in India headquartered in New Delhi, but predominately based in Uttar Pradesh.

History

Originally caste-based, the Samajwadi Party was one of several parties that emerged when the 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 is said to 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 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. 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.

Position in state and national politics

The Samajawadi Party provided outside support to the United Progressive Alliance government up to the sixteenth general election. After the sixteenth 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 2014, it won only 5 seats, while the Indian National Congress gained 44 seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party obtained a clear mandate with 282 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.
The Samajwadi Party has called homosexuality "unethical and immoral."

Muzzaffarnagar case

The clashes between the Hindu and Muslim communities in Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India in August - September 2013, resulted in at least 9 deaths and injured 34 after which an indefinite curfew was imposed. By 17 September, the curfew was lifted from all riot affected areas and the army was also withdrawn.
Akhilesh Yadav warned of strict action against those found guilty. He also blamed a political conspiracy behind these riots. He also announced jobs to the kins of the people who were killed during the riots

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.

Family feud

Since Akhilesh Yadav became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, the Yadav family has been divided into two feuding groups. One of the groups is led by him with the support of his father's cousin, Ram Gopal Yadav. The rival group is led by Shivpal Singh Yadav and a friend, Amar Singh. Akhilesh Yadav has fired his uncle twice from his cabinet as it was seen by many as a direct challenge to his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has steadily supported his younger brother Shivpal over him.
Battle in the family fired up when Akhilesh Yadav released a parallel list of 235 candidates for 2017 Uttar Pradesh election. Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal Singh Yadav already has released list of 325 candidates few days before.
On 30 December 2016, Mulayam Singh Yadav expelled his son Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav from the party for six years on the grounds of indiscipline but re-inducted within 24 hours after a meet of 200 of the party's 229 MLAs at Akhilesh residence.

National Convention of January 2017

In a National Convention held on 1 January 2017 called by Ram Gopal Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav was declared the National President of Samajwadi Party. Naresh Chandra Uttam was named as Uttar Pradesh state president of the party.
In the meantime Mulayam Singh Yadav expelled Ram Gopal Yadav for six years for the third time in six months. Expulsion also included vice-president Kiranmoy Nanda and state general secretary Naresh Agarwal were also expelled for attending the convention.

Election commission gets involved

After the national convention was declared illegal by Mulayam Singh Yadav and further truce talks failed Mulayam Singh along with Amar Singh and Jaya Prada decided to go to the Election Commission to sort out the matter.
On 16 January, the Election Commission announced its decision and Akhilesh Yadav was declared the rightful owner of his Samajwadi Party's symbol, the cycle.

Electoral Performances

Lok Sabha (Lower House)

Lok Sabha TermIndian
General Election		Seats
contested		Seats
won		% of
votes		% of votes in
seats contested		State
11th Lok Sabha199616Uttar Pradesh
12th Lok Sabha199819Uttar Pradesh
13th Lok Sabha199926Uttar Pradesh
14th Lok Sabha200436Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand
15th Lok Sabha200923Uttar Pradesh
16th Lok Sabha20145Uttar Pradesh
17th Lok Sabha20195Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha (Lower House)

Vidhan Sabha TermUP
elections		Seats
contested		Seats
won		% of
votes		Party Votes
12th Vidhan Sabha199325610917.989,63,697
13th Vidhan Sabha199628111021.81,20,85,226
14th Vidhan Sabha200239014325.41,36,12,509
15th Vidhan Sabha20073939725.41,32,67,674
16th Vidhan Sabha201240322429.22,21,07,241
17th Vidhan Sabha20172984722.01,89,23,689

List of Chief Ministers

List of Central Ministers