As the incumbent BJP was moving towards a thumping majority in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party even though managing to better its tally from the previous election, has failed to reach the magic mark. The failure could bring focus upon the team on which Akhilesh Yadav was relying for feedback and action.

Criticism will mount on the Akhilesh team comprising leaders like Udayveer Singh, Rajendra Chaudhary, Abhishek Mishra, Naresh Uttam Patel and others for giving wrong ground reports. It was based on these reports that tickets were distributed. After the failure, it is likely to be said that the party distributed wrong tickets which led to the defeat on many seats which the SP could have won. On some seats, the SP leader fielded new candidates and the old timers either worked against the party candidate or contested from other parties which led to the defeat of the official nominee.

For having a wide and effective media coverage, the team led by Ashish Yadav was deciding on the coverage. It, however, relied on National News Channels and in those interviews Akhilesh Yadav was asked hard questions, which led to a dent in his image. The media narrative could not be set up in favour of Samajwadi Party despite drawing huge crowds in elections. The media narrative could have been built up in favour if good media strategy was drawn, and better preparation during the interviews could have led to good perceptions.

The party insiders blame the wrong strategy, ticket distribution and last minute entrants from the BJP for the loss in the elections.

The former Chief Minister over-relied on its non-political team and ignored the party leaders in the ticket distribution in the state. He could not match Mulayam Singh Yadav’s strategy and could not establish a team of second rung leaders like his father did with Janeshwar Mishra, Reoti Raman Singh, Mata Prasad Pandey, Beni Prasad Verma and Mohan Singh.

The three elections, which Akhilesh Yadav fought in 2017, 2019 and 2022 he experimented and failed. In 2017, he allied with the Congress and was reduced to less than 50 seats, then in 2019 his alliance with the BSP failed, and in 2022 inducting BJP rebels and giving tickets to the new leaders have not paid well, said sources.