SP authorizes Akhilesh for poll pacts

Lucknow : The national executive of the Samajwadi Party (SP) has authorised party president Akhilesh Yadav to take a call on prospective alliances for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, party spokesman Rajendra Chowdhary said on Saturday.

The party meeting took place in the state capital on the weekend, but the patron of the party, Mulayam Singh Yadav, and his younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav did not turn up.

A party leader present at the meeting told IANS that Akhilesh Yadav's would be the final word on seat-sharing with other parties as the SP braces to be a part of a grand alliance of opposition parties.

Party leaders indicate that the SP would also press for ballot papers instead of the electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav, the uncle of Akhilesh Yadav, said the SP chief would also be the final authority on tie-ups with other secular parties in the state assembly elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.