LUCKNOW: SP president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday demanded that the government immediately announce the implementation of women’s quota for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
The former chief minister challenged the ruling BJP at the Centre to either commit to the 2027 timeline or "openly admit" that it is against the interests of women.
"The PDA (Pichda, Dalit, Alpasankhyak) demands that women's reservation (bill), which the entire Opposition collectively and gladly passed in Parliament, should be implemented by the BJP government in the 2027 UP Assembly elections immediately," Yadav wrote on X.
"Otherwise, they (BJP) should say that the male-chauvinist BJP members and their feudal associates are against reservation for women," Yadav demanded.
The SP leader said his party would turn this into a sustained campaign if the government remained silent on the issue.
"Until this announcement is made, we will continue to raise this matter every week at various locations," he said.
Yadav also posted a video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which he accused the Samajwadi Party of stalling women reservation in Parliament.
The SP's demand comes as part of his party’s broader 'PDA' strategy, aimed at consolidating the backward, Dalit, and minority vote banks ahead of the crucial 2027 state polls.
By linking women’s reservation to the upcoming assembly elections, the SP aims to pressure the BJP on its "women-centric" governance claims.
The Constitution Amendment Bill to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 was defeated on April 17. While 298 members voted in support of the Bill in Lok Sabha, 230 MPs voted against it.
The Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.