Lucknow: The national executive of the Samajwadi Party (SP), which met here on Saturday, has authorised party president Akhilesh Yadav to take decision on the issue of forging alliances and seat sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Senior Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and his younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav were not invited to the meeting, and the party spokesman said that both were not members of the national executive and, hence, were not present.
Mohd Azam Khan, the party’s general secretary, was also conspicuous by his absence. “It is not necessary that everyone should be present. Ninety per cent of the members were there including party president Akhilesh Yadav”, said senior SP leader Prof Ram Gopal Yadav.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Prof Ram Gopal Yadav said that the national executive has authorised Mr Akhilesh Yadav to take decisions on pre-poll alliances and seat sharing in Uttar Pradesh as well as in other states.
The national executive said that it wanted the general elections to be held through ballot papers and not through EVMs.
He said that if the Election Commission did not respond to their demand for ballot papers, the SP would resort to Satyagraha and other peaceful means of protest, including dharna. The meeting also thanked voters for its victory in Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana Lok Sabha byelections and also the Noorpur Assembly byelection.
