UP elections: Is Akash Anand in charge of selecting BSP candidates? Mayawati clears air

Since Friday, multiple news outlets and social media platforms have speculated that Akash Anand, Mayawati’s nephew, is assuming responsibility for deciding the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidates for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly election.

Media reports suggested that Akash Anand, who is the BSP National Convenor, has begun preparing for the Assembly elections, and that he will soon be in Delhi to conduct meetings with the party's social media team. The objective is to strengthen the party's outreach to Gen Z after the student protests in Delhi.

However, Mayawati, the 70-year-old National President of the BSP, through her X post, refuted these claims. The former Chief Minister clarified that she will give the final word on the BSP's candidate selections not just in UP, but across the entire country.

Through her X post, she also clarified the role assigned to Anand for the upcoming UP elections. She said he will play a key role in the BSP’s campaign for the 2027 Assembly elections in mobilising the party cadre across the state. “All sorts of rumours are being spread about the party’s national coordinator, Mr Akash Anand, in which there is not even a shred of truth,” she said.

It is understood that the party's candidates for the seats in the upcoming UP election will be announced by the BSP’s senior officials after holding public meetings with Mayawati’s permission. She has finalised the names of two dozen candidates herself by conducting interviews with them. She also held several meetings at the party’s state office in Lucknow, and has given directions to the party functionaries to finalise the rest of the names of candidates at the state and divisional levels, which she herself would approve. “Candidates for all [remaining] seats will also be determined by me,” she said.

The BSP plans to increase its influence on the public by mobilising its cadre for the UP elections under the leadership of Akash Anand and other leaders. This is being speculated as a counter to the Azad Samaj Party (ASP) (Kanshi Ram), which poses a challenge to the BSP.

The ASP challenge

Locking horns early on against their political rivals, the Chandrashekhar Azad-led ASP (Kanshi Ram) has announced its first list of 45 candidates for the 2027 UP polls. These candidates are currently named as “Prabharis” (in-charges), and a formal declaration of the party candidates will be made closer to the UP election.

The party’s state vice-president, Saurabh Kishore, said that 18 of the 45 candidates are from the Scheduled Castes (SCs), 16 from Other Backward Classes (OBCs), 10 are Muslims, and one candidate is a Sikh.

Among the 18 SC candidates of the ASP (Kanshi Ram), five will contest from unreserved seats: Chharra, Lucknow Cantonment, Govind Nagar, Vishwanathganj, and Bikapur. Kishore has stated that the candidates for more seats would be announced in the coming days. It is learnt that the candidates are being announced in advance to provide them with sufficient time to strategise election campaigns in their respective constituencies ahead of the election notification.

Both the ASP (Kanshi Ram) and the BSP focus on Dalits and OBCs as their core vote base. In 2022, Chandrashekhar Azad had offered the BSP an alliance to consolidate Dalit politics and vote share in the state. Yet, it did not come to fruition. The Mayawati-led BSP, alongside the leadership of Akash Anand, locking horns against the Chandrashekhar Azad-led ASP (Kanshi Ram) will be a political contest to watch out for in the 2027 UP Assembly elections.