PDA Yatra: Akhilesh to begin statewide campaign next month ahead of 2027 poll

Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav is expected to begin a statewide campaign in the last week of October ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. A customised campaign bus arrived at the SP office in Lucknow on Wednesday for the proposed ‘PDA Rath Yatra’ themed around the party’s formula of consolidating backward, Dalit, and Muslim, or pichhda, Dalit and alpsankhyak voters.

The formula helped SP register its best performance, bagging 37 of 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 national polls. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s seats in the state fell from 62 in 2019 to 33, as the party’s overall tally dropped below the majority mark in Parliament for the first time since 2014. SP’s ally Congress increased its count to six seats from one in 2024.

The SP is yet to finalise the dates, route and schedule for the yatra. Yadav will travel on the luxury bus, a customised and high-tech Mercedes vehicle. The 15-metre-long, multi-axle bus is equipped with bulletproof glass and a hydraulic lift to the roof for addressing crowds. It has space for meetings for up to six people, a living area with a sofa-cum-bed, a kitchen and pantry, a washroom, CCTV cameras, exterior LED screens, Wi-Fi connectivity and air-conditioning. The vehicle has been refurbished and upgraded at an estimated cost of ₹2-5 crore.

On Wednesday, the red-coloured bus arrived at the SP headquarters with a new design and ‘Samajwadi PDA Yatra’ written on the sides. The left side carries a picture of Akhilesh Yadav with the slogan, ‘Samajik Nyay Ka Parcham Lehrayega, PDA hi Parivartan Layega’ (the flag of social justice will fly high, PDA will bring social justice).

The right side has a picture of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav with the slogan, “PDA Samajik Andolan Hai, Samajik Nyay Ka Sangharsh Hai” (PDA is a social movement; it is a struggle for social justice).

The bus also has pichhda (backward), Dalit, alpsankhyak (minority) written under “Samajwadi PDA Yatra”.

The bus also displays pictures of leaders such as Bhimrao Ambedkar, Janeshwar Mishra, Ram Manohar Lohia, and Beni Prasad Verma. Yadav used the same bus in 2016-17 and 2021.

The BJP seeks to retain power in Uttar Pradesh and maintain its winning streak after the electoral setback in the 2024 national polls.

Despite electoral setbacks since 2014, SP has increased its vote share since 2017. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the SP-Congress alliance was ahead in 224 of 403 assembly segments. The BJP polled 38.30 million votes and SP 38.16 million. In the 2022 assembly polls, the BJP and SP polled 41.3 and 32.1% of the vote.

In 2024, the SP expanded its vote bank of Muslims and Yadavs by adding Kurmi, Pal, and Dalits to build the PDA. SP leadership later described the “A” in PDA as Adhi Abadi (women).

After the 2024 polls, SP intensified its PDA campaign, with Yadav describing the 2027 election as a contest between the BJP and PDA.