Samajwadi Party's '5 new voters' strategy for 2027 UP Assembly polls

With the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls still months away, the Samajwadi Party has begun a booth-level push to expand its voter base, asking booth-level agents (BLAs) to add at least five new voters to every booth, according to party sources.The strategy is aimed at strengthening the SP's grassroots network and building on its performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when the party and Congress together led in 224 of Uttar Pradesh's 403 Assembly constituencies.Uttar Pradesh has around 1.77 lakh polling booths. Even a target of five new voters per booth would translate into nearly nine lakh additional voters on the party's outreach list. But SP sources say the real calculation goes beyond five.According to the party's internal reasoning, one new voter could influence other members of the same family. With an average family size of around five, adding five voters at a booth could potentially bring around 25 people into the party's fold. "Our booth in-charges have been asked to add at least five new voters, although they are adding more than that at each booth," party sources said.The sources said booth-level workers are visiting households, informing voters about the SP government's work and focusing on issues they believe could work against the BJP, including examination paper leaks and the alleged misuse of donations collected for the Ram Temple. The party's booth strategy is also being backed by internal surveys covering all 403 Assembly seats. According to SP sources, multiple agencies and youth organisations are conducting surveys to map booth-wise and caste-wise voting patterns and identify potential winning candidates.SP chief and Kannauj MP Akhilesh Yadav has repeatedly stressed the importance of booth management, voter-list verification and appointing reliable BLAs in meetings with party workers at the party headquarters.The strategy comes as the SP seeks to convert its 2024 Lok Sabha performance into an Assembly election advantage. In the 2022 Assembly polls, the BJP won 255 seats with around 41.29 per cent of the vote, while the SP won 111 seats with 32.06 per cent.Two years later, the political numbers shifted significantly. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the SP won 37 seats with 33.59 per cent of the vote, while the BJP won 33 seats with 41.37 per cent. The Congress, the SP's ally, won six seats in the state.SP leaders privately acknowledge that sustaining the 2024 momentum will require continuous grassroots mobilisation and disciplined booth-level campaigning.BJP DISMISSES SP'S '5 NEW VOTERS' STRATEGYMeanwhile, the BJP has dismissed the SP's 'five new voter' strategy as having little impact on the 2027 Assembly polls. BJP leaders say the party already has an extensive booth-level organisational network across Uttar Pradesh and accuse the SP of attempting to replicate its model."The BJP's booth-level organisational structure is extremely strong. The SP is merely trying to copy us," a BJP spokesperson said.The contest is therefore already taking shape at the booth level, with both parties focusing on voter lists, local organisation and household-level outreach well before Uttar Pradesh votes in 2027.- EndsPublished By: Prateek ChakrabortyPublished On: Aug 18, 2026 10:46 IST