The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and the Azad Samaj Party have decided to contest the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections together, setting up a joint challenge to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which currently governs the state. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi and Azad Samaj Party chief Chandrashekhar Azad are expected to announce the alliance at a press conference in Lucknow on Thursday, 12 November.

Seat-sharing arrangements are expected to be announced at the same event, but details have not yet been confirmed. The alliance will focus on constituencies with a substantial Muslim and Dalit population, with particular attention to western Uttar Pradesh and the Rohilkhand region.

Neither party won a seat in the 2022 state assembly elections. AIMIM contested 95 constituencies that year, while the Azad Samaj Party fielded more than 100 candidates. The new arrangement is therefore an attempt to pool electoral strength after a poor showing by both parties when they contested separately.

The social arithmetic behind the alliance rests on the composition of the state. Minorities make up about 40 percent of Uttar Pradesh's population, with Dalits accounting for about 21 percent and Muslims about 19 percent. Azad has said the party will press the concerns of the Muslim community, which has been a core constituency for AIMIM.

Azad also criticised Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary for not cooperating with the opposition. He claimed that better cooperation among opposition parties could have weakened the BJP considerably, a remark that points to the broader contest over opposition unity ahead of the 2027 polls.

The 2027 elections will be the next assembly contest in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India, where the BJP currently holds power. The announcement signals that smaller parties representing Muslim and Dalit voters are seeking to consolidate their support in the coming months, though the electoral impact of the alliance will depend on the seat-sharing details and the choice of candidates, which are yet to be made public.

Source: siasat.com

6Views