LUCKNOW, June 14 -- Signalling an early push for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Nagina MP and Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) chief Chandrashekhar Azad on Saturday personally interviewed around 80 ticket aspirants from western Uttar Pradesh, launching what party leaders describe as a comprehensive exercise to identify winnable candidates and strengthen the organisation at the grassroots level.

The multiple days screening programme, being held in Lucknow from Saturday, marks a departure from conventional candidate selection practices, where recommendations from local leaders often play a decisive role. Instead, Azad is directly assessing aspirants on their electoral preparedness, social outreach, caste equations, booth-level netw...