Owaisi and Azad Form New Political Alliance for Uttar Pradesh Election

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and the Azad Samaj Party launched a political alliance in Lucknow on Thursday, establishing a third front to challenge established blocs in the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

The coalition, named the Samajik Parivartan Morcha, designated Chandrashekhar Azad, the leader of the Azad Samaj Party and a member of Parliament, as its candidate for chief minister.

The pact unites two parties seeking to build support among Muslim and Dalit communities, who together account for about 40 percent of the population in Uttar Pradesh.

"We have always wanted a strong alliance to be formed so that the BJP does not come to power in Uttar Pradesh for a third term," said Shaukat Ali, the Uttar Pradesh president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.

Asaduddin Owaisi, the president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, formed the coalition after previous efforts to join the main opposition alliance failed.

"If we have to die for the cause of people, it's a good deal for us; Akhilesh Yadav won't be CM, engaged in politics of entitlement," said Owaisi.

Azad said the new front will focus on economic issues and economic representation for marginalized groups across the state.

"Issues like vote theft are before us. We are still suffering the consequences of demonetisation, but the bigger concern is the declining number of government jobs," said Azad.

The Samajwadi Party dismissed the potential impact of the new front on opposition electoral strength in the state.

"The people of Uttar Pradesh have already made up their minds in favour of the Samajwadi Party," said Akhilesh Yadav, the president of the Samajwadi Party.

Shahnawaz Alam, a national secretary of the Congress party, said voters remain united behind the existing opposition alliance to defeat the governing Bharatiya Janata Party.

In the 2022 assembly elections, neither party won a seat, with Owaisi's party contesting more than 90 seats and Azad's party fielding over 100 candidates, according to NDTV.

Azad later gained his party's first elected parliamentary seat by winning the Nagina Lok Sabha constituency in 2024.

The new alliance is targeting several western districts, including Rampur, Moradabad and Saharanpur, where Muslim and Dalit voters together constitute a majority of the local electorate.

The two parties are shortlisting constituencies and discussing seat allocations as they prepare to invite additional smaller parties into their coalition ahead of the 2027 polls.