3 min readLucknowJul 31, 2026 04:06 PM IST
First published on: Jul 31, 2026 at 04:05 PM IST
Hitting the ground running ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the Chandrashekhar Azad-led Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) Friday announced probable candidates for 45 seats.
The candidates have currently been named as prabharis (in-charges) and will be formally declared as nominees closer to the elections, said Saurabh Kishore, the party’s state vice-president.
Kishore, who is set to contest from the Misrikh seat reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC), added that candidates for more seats would be announced in the coming days.
Among the 45, 18 are from the Scheduled Castes (SCs), 16 from Other Backward Classes (OBCs), 10 are Muslims, and one is a Sikh. The party has also named SC candidates for five unreserved seats (Chharra, Lucknow Cantonment, Govind Nagar, Vishwanathganj and Bikapur).
By fielding 16 OBC candidates — a significant share — the party appears to be signalling an attempt to broaden its support base beyond its traditional voter base of Dalits and Muslims.
After Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), ASP (Kanshi Ram) is the second to start announcing candidates.
Dalits are the core vote base of both the BSP and the Aazad party.
Chandrashekhar’s party has frequently been in the BSP’s crosshairs; Mayawati, without naming him, has repeatedly accused him and his outfit of acting as “selfish groups” backed by rival parties to weaken Dalit unity and undermine the BSP.
A party leader said candidates were being announced well in advance to give them sufficient time to work in their constituencies before the election schedule is announced.
On the social representation of candidates, a senior party official said, “The focus is on the 85 percent population — including OBCs, SCs and Muslims — of the state. Jo bahujan ki baat karega, wo desh me raaj karega (whoever stands for the Bahujan will rule the country). If these social groups come together in our favour, we will win seats. The same social combination had helped us win the Nagina seat in the 2024 elections.”
Chandrashekhar won the Nagina Lok Sabha seat in 2024, defeating the BJP’s Om Kumar by a margin of 1.51 lakh votes.
The ASP(KR) had contested 110 seats in the 2022 UP Assembly elections. It secured 0.13 per cent of the vote, and all its candidates forfeited their deposits.
