A new political front is taking shape in Uttar Pradesh, with the 2027 assembly elections about a year away. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and the Azad Samaj Party (ASP) have agreed to contest together, and the two leaders are due to make it official in Lucknow on Thursday.

What has been confirmed

According to Hindustan Times, AIMIM spokesperson Shadab Chauhan confirmed on Wednesday that the alliance is on. He said a joint press conference of AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi and ASP chief Chandra Shekhar Azad, who is the MP from Nagina, will be held at a hotel in Lucknow on Thursday, 12 November, and that the alliance will be announced there.

The number of seats is not yet official. Amar Ujala, citing reports, says the plan is to contest 150 assembly seats. Hindustan Times says the formal number will be announced at the press conference. Chauhan told the paper that the alliance would mainly focus on Dalits and Muslims, and indicated that more small parties could join as the elections come closer.

The numbers behind the move

Hindustan Times puts the Dalit population of Uttar Pradesh at around 21 per cent and Muslims at nearly 19 per cent, which together is roughly 40 per cent of the state. Amar Ujala makes the same point, saying the alliance is an attempt to bring together this 40 per cent vote bank.

The track record of the two parties in the state is thin. In the 2022 assembly polls, AIMIM contested 95 seats and won about 0.49 per cent of the votes without winning a seat. ASP contested over 100 seats and polled about 0.13 per cent. Amar Ujala adds that Muslim voters leaned towards the Samajwadi Party in 2022.

A similar experiment in Bihar gave mixed results. In the 2025 assembly election there, AIMIM, ASP and Swami Prasad Maurya's Apni Janata Party formed the Grand Democratic Alliance. AIMIM eventually contested 28 seats and won five, all in the Muslim-majority Seemanchal region, with a vote share of roughly 1.85 to 1.9 per cent. ASP contested 18 seats and won none, Hindustan Times reports.

Reactions

The AIMIM spokesperson attacked Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, saying he has nothing to do with Dalits and Muslims. Akhilesh Yadav responded that the people of Uttar Pradesh have made up their minds in favour of the Samajwadi Party this time. UP BJP chief spokesperson Dinesh Pratap Singh said all parties are free to contest from wherever they wish, but accused Owaisi of having no ideology other than dividing people and spreading hatred. These are the parties' own statements as reported by Hindustan Times; we have not independently verified the claims made in them.

Hindustan Times notes that the alliance is likely to concentrate on Muslim and Dalit dominated seats in western Uttar Pradesh and the Rohilkhand region, and that political watchers will be looking at whether it eats into the Samajwadi Party's minority support, which could help the BJP by splitting votes. Amar Ujala says Owaisi had earlier expressed a wish to join the INDIA bloc in the state, which Akhilesh Yadav had turned down.

Why it matters

Until now the contest has been seen as BJP-led NDA against the SP-led INDIA bloc. A third front, even a small one, can change the arithmetic in close seats, which is why parties on both sides will be watching how many constituencies it picks and where. Chandra Shekhar Azad has been trying to build support among younger Dalit voters at a time when the Bahujan Samaj Party's influence has weakened, and he is preparing a show of strength in Lucknow, according to Hindustan Times.

The real picture will only become clear when the seat list and the leaders' statements come out on Thursday.