Akhilesh Opens UP 2027 Campaign From Raebareli, Vows Alliance and Attacks EC

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav launched his party's campaign for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections from Raebareli on Thursday, addressing a public meeting after arriving in the city aboard a specially designed "PDA Rath".

Raebareli carries added political weight as the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who retained the seat in 2024 by defeating the BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh.

Speaking at the meeting, Yadav accused the Election Commission of facilitating what he described as the "vote theft" of the PDA bloc in the 2022 Assembly polls. He said the Commission had lost public trust and claimed that without such alleged irregularities, the Samajwadi Party would have formed the state government. He further alleged that the BJP was relying on the election machinery because it feared voters would reject it over issues such as inflation.

PDA, an acronym coined by Yadav in June 2023, stands for Pichhde (backward classes), Dalits and Alpsankhyak (minorities) — a social coalition that has become central to the party's strategy.

On alliances, Yadav said the SP would contest in partnership and that seats would be allotted on the basis of winnability. "Whoever can win a seat should get that seat," he said. Referring to the 2024 Lok Sabha results, he said the BJP had been defeated once and that the party would work for its permanent defeat in 2027.

He also warned that those practising "bulldozer politics" would not escape the PDA movement, asserting that the next electoral verdict would not merely defeat such forces but eliminate them. He criticised the BJP over the alleged demolition of religious structures in Kashi and Saharanpur, accusing it of communal politics, and said a Uniform Civil Code should be preceded by efforts to make citizens equal.

On welfare, Yadav promised jobs for young people and an end to outsourcing, free treatment in hospitals without the need for cards, the reopening of primary schools he said the state government had shut while opening liquor shops, and the restoration of the old pension scheme for government employees.

The PDA Rath, rolled out for the first time ahead of the 2027 polls, is a motorised multi-coloured vehicle carrying the slogans "Samajwadi PDA Yatra" and "PDA hi parivartan layega". It also displays the expansion of the acronym and portraits of prominent personalities, including several Dalit leaders. The slogan "Jo peedit, wo PDA" appears in blue, a colour associated with the Bahujan and Ambedkarite political movement.

Yadav invoked the chariot's symbolism, comparing it to the battlefield of Kurukshetra and referring to the Mahabharata and Lord Krishna's teachings in the Bhagavad Gita.

The BJP responded sharply. Party spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said Yadav had deliberately chosen Raebareli, calling it part of an ongoing tussle within the SP-Congress alliance. Citing recent statements by Congress leader Imran Masood and SP's Iqra Hasan, he said the visit was meant to display the SP's strength in the constituency and question the Congress's standing there, and suggested the Congress should launch its own campaign from Mainpuri and Etawah. He also said SP workers travelling from Lucknow would notice the development work of the Yogi Adityanath government.

SBSP chief and Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar, a BJP ally, alleged that the PDA campaign in Raebareli was intended to signal "goons" to create unrest.

The SP and Congress contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls together, with the SP winning 37 seats in Uttar Pradesh and the Congress six, taking the alliance tally to 43 and restricting the BJP to 33. The SP also won Faizabad, which includes Ayodhya. Despite BJP victories in subsequent bypolls, including Milkipur, attention has remained on whether the two parties can agree on seat sharing for the Assembly polls due early next year.