Samajwadi Party MPs Skip Janpath Lunch After Joining Election Commission Protest

Samajwadi Party MPs did not attend the opposition lunch at Janpath because they had left Delhi after joining a protest march to the Election Commission on Tuesday. The gathering was held at Sagar Ratna and was hosted by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday afternoon. The lunch was meant to be followed by a march toward Jantar Mantar as part of the opposition’s push for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to quit over the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls. Congress said most SP members had travelled back to their constituencies the night before or early on Wednesday, so they could not join the lunch or the subsequent rally. KC Venugopal, the Congress general secretary (organisation) who arranged the meeting, told other INDIA bloc leaders that the SP MPs were already out of Delhi when the latest protest plan was announced. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh later posted on X that all alliance parties had been invited, but the decision to hold the lunch was taken late at night and communicated only then, so some parties naturally missed it. He added that media comments on the absence were unnecessary and that the alliance remains united against vote‑champering, SIR and delimitation. Samajwadi Party representatives blamed poor coordination by Congress. One SP MP said their colleagues left for their home seats on Tuesday evening after the protest, and no information about the lunch had reached them. A party spokesperson said no invitation was received and that while some Congress leaders’ statements had upset SP leadership, that was not the reason for skipping the meal. Rajendra Chaudhary noted that Akhilesh Yadav returned to Lucknow on Tuesday night and the party may have received the invitation too late. Sources added that SP leaders were also displeased with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra taking centre stage at the Tuesday sit‑in at Akashvani Bhavan, though they said this did not cause the lunch absence. The SP’s frustration extends to the upcoming Uttar Pradesh election, where the two parties are allies but are quarrelling over seat allocation. Congress is said to be asking for roughly 150‑200 of the 403 assembly seats, a demand that has irritated SP leaders. The appointment of Imran Masood as UP Congress working president last week has also drawn criticism from the SP. ## Context