Two days after it was announced that Akash Anand would launch the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) campaign for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections from Hathras on August 10, BSP president Mayawati on Friday sought to dismiss speculation over the role of her nephew and party’s national coordinator in selecting party candidates.
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In a post on X, Mayawati said she had held several state-level meetings at the party office in Lucknow in preparation for the assembly elections and would continue to do so in the coming months.
She said necessary directions had been issued to party functionaries, particularly at the state and divisional levels, regarding the selection of candidates. Mayawati said she had personally interviewed and finalised more than two dozen candidates and would decide candidates for all the remaining seats as well.
“All kinds of rumours are being spread about the role of the party’s national coordinator, Akash Anand, in finalising candidates. There is not even a shred of truth in these claims,” she said.
Mayawati said the names of candidates whose selection had already been finalised were being announced by senior party leaders at public meetings with her approval. “Akash Anand will also announce candidates for some seats at public meetings,” she said.
She added that Anand had earlier campaigned in states that went to assembly polls and had also addressed public meetings across Uttar Pradesh and other states during the Lok Sabha elections.
“In Uttar Pradesh too, public meetings are being organised for him to announce the names of candidates already finalised by the party,” she said.
Emphasising that all organisational decisions were being taken according to the BSP’s established procedure, Mayawati said Anand’s role in the campaign had “nothing to do with raising or lowering his stature” or with deciding candidates.
“Like other senior party leaders, he is holding public meetings in Uttar Pradesh under the directions of the party president,” she said.
Anand was removed as the BSP’s national coordinator on May 7, 2024, during the Lok Sabha elections, but was reinstated and named Mayawati’s political successor on June 23 the same year. He was again removed from the key organisational post on March 3, 2025, and expelled from the party a day later.
On April 13, 2025, Mayawati reinstated Anand after he publicly apologised, though she did not immediately assign him an organisational role. In May, he was appointed the party’s chief national coordinator, and in August 2025, Mayawati named him the BSP’s national convenor.
Mayawati has since announced that Anand would play a key role in the BSP’s campaign for the 2027 assembly elections by mobilising the party cadre across the state. His return has generated considerable interest within the party, with leaders hoping he can help counter the growing influence of Azad Samaj Party chief Chandrashekhar Azad and attract younger voters.
