Owaisi-Azad Alliance Names Chandrashekhar Azad As CM Face For 2027 UP Polls

The political contest for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections is gathering momentum with the formation of the Samajik Parivartan Morcha (SPM) by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) president Chandrashekhar Azad, who has been named the alliance's chief ministerial candidate.

Announcing the alliance at a press conference in Lucknow on Thursday, Owaisi said the coalition would seek to prevent the BJP from returning to power for a third consecutive term in the state. Azad described the SPM as a political platform for deprived, oppressed and marginalised communities, rejecting its description as a third front and calling it the "first front".

The alliance said it would focus on issues concerning Dalits, backward communities and minorities, besides unemployment, education and farmers' problems. Azad also invited other parties, including the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress, to join the coalition. The alliance's seat-sharing arrangement is yet to be announced.

The development comes amid uncertainty over the SP-Congress seat-sharing negotiations.Meanwhile, the BJP-led NDA is working on its alliance arrangements, with reports suggesting that around 60 Assembly seats could be allocated to regional partners, including the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, Apna Dal (S) and Nishad Party.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), led by Mayawati, has indicated that it will contest the elections independently, adding another dimension to the competition for Dalit support.

Electoral roll revisions have also emerged as a major political issue. Owaisi on Thursday questioned the Election Commission over Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's claim that 1.27 crore voters had been deleted, demanding details of the names removed and the reasons behind their exclusion.

Citing EC website data, Owaisi referred to 2.89 crore deletions, including deceased, duplicate, shifted and absent voters. He also criticised the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, describing it as a potential "backdoor NRC".