LUCKNOW, Oct. 17 -- Several leaders from the BJP, BSP and other parties, along with their supporters, joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Lucknow on Friday, with party chief Akhilesh Yadav describing the influx as the beginning of a larger shift ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Prominent among those who crossed over to the SP at the party headquarters were former BJP MP Rajpal Saini, Vidup Agrahari, son of former MP Shyamacharan Gupta, BJP leader Ravi Pratap Singh from Badaun, Harveer Malik from Shamli, Shan-e-Ali, son of former minister Riaz Ahmad and a former BSP candidate from Pilibhit, and Thakur Nand Kishore Pundir, a former BSP candidate from Ghaziabad. From western UP, the list included Kamal Gautam, Azad Samaj Party in-charge for the region, Shokendra Acharya of the Nishad Party, and several RLD leaders from Shamli - Sanjeev Pradhan, Rajendra Malik, Bijendra Malik and Shubham Malik - along with Rajendra Singh and Siwan Saini, a former Khatauli leader. The SP president said people from the Pal, Kashyap, Prajapati and Dalit communities had also joined the party. "The more love and unity there is in the PDA family, the stronger it becomes. Leaders joining the Samajwadi Party is just the start," he said. The induction comes as parties prepare for the 2027 assembly elections, with western UP a key political battleground. The SP and RLD had performed strongly in the region in the 2022 assembly elections, winning 41 of around 126 seats (about 32%), including eight won by the RLD. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the SP and Congress, as part of the INDIA bloc, made gains in the region, including in Kairana and Muzaffarnagar. Muzaffarnagar MP Harendra Malik and Kairana MP Iqra Hasan said the SP was gaining support among farmers and the 'Kamera' (labour) classes. Senior SP leader and MLA Shivpal Singh Yadav said the party's reach was growing across districts and expressed confidence that it would form the government in 2027 under Akhilesh's leadership. Meanwhile, at a press conference, the SP chief reiterated his allegations that the BJP was conspiring with the Election Commission to manipulate electoral rolls during the ongoing Special Summary Revision (SSR). He questioned why another revision was being conducted so soon after the SIR had been completed....