The Samajwadi Party is likely to contest next year's general elections on 65 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh while 15 seats will be spared for I.N.D.I.A. alliance partners, sources have said.
However, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's party has not finalised 65 seats on which it's planning to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
According to Samajwadi Party's spokesperson Fakrul Hasan Chand, Akhilesh Yadav during party's state executive meeting told workers to not allow its vote base to divide and asked them to keep a connection with the youth.
Samajwadi Party received 35 per cent vote share in 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election and is capable of defeating the BJP in the state, Akhilesh Yadav told party workers.
Issues like caste survey was also discussed as part of party's strategy for next year's Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier, Samajwadi Party national secretary and spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said that the Lok Sabha polls, caste survey and ways to bolster the party's support base among the backwards, Dalits and minority (for which Yadav has coined the term PDA) will be discussed in the meeting.
About the party's preparation for the Lok Sabha election, he said, "The Samajwadi Party is working continuously and fighting on issues of public interest. The party organisation is being streamlined and is being formed at the booth levels."
Asked whether the Samajwadi Party will be a part of the INDIA alliance in the general elections amid the strained relations between it and the Congress over seat sharing for the Madhya Pradesh polls, Chaudhary said, "There is an alliance in the Lok Sabha elections. That is certain."
With inputs from PTI
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