Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 28: With the all-important elections to the 403-member Uttar Pradesh state Assembly drawing closer, heat is generated in the opposition INDIA bloc over seat-sharing after some senior Congress leaders claiming at least 150 seats and the Samajwadi Party advising it to “stay within limits” leaving the issue to the top party leaders to decide.
The SP leaders contended as pressure tactics the statement by the Congress in-charge for the state Rajendra Pal Gautam that as per the understanding with the SP, his party should get half the total number of seats to contest, which work out to at least 201 seats, but in no case his party would agree at less than 150 seats.
While the Congress has drawn a clear line on its seat-sharing expectations, some senior SP leaders commented, “The alliance between the Samajwadi Party and Congress will be decided by Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, but the absurd statements being made by Congress leaders are only aimed at creating pressure. How much strength Congress has in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is well known,” he said.
Mr Gautam’s remarks put a specific number on the Congress’ expected share in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, signalling that the party intends to seek a substantial role in the electoral alliance with the SP, both members of the opposition INDIA bloc. The two parties had joined hands for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the state drawing spectacular results and are now preparing for the much larger electoral contest due in 2027.
Gautam also claimed that the Congress has been preparing for the seat-sharing exercise for the past two months and has organisational and candidate preparations across the state. “Seat-sharing will likely be finalised in the month of October. Congress has candidates available to contest all 403 seats. Under the alliance, the Congress party is entitled to get 50 per cent of the seats. Congress will not contest less than 150 seats,” Gautam said.
He agreed that the seat-sharing discussions were being handled at the highest level of the Congress organisation. “For the last two months, Congress has been working on seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi, KC Venugopal and I (Rajendra Pal Gautam) are looking after this work,” he added. The emphasis on completing the arrangement in October comes ahead of the 2027 Assembly election preparations, giving the alliance partners a defined window to work out the distribution of constituencies and allow prospective candidates to prepare for the campaign.
The seat-sharing negotiations are taking place against the backdrop of the Congress-SP alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. The two parties contested the parliamentary polls together as I.N.D.I.A bloc partners. The experience of the 2024 contest has become an important backdrop to the discussions for the 2027 Assembly elections, where the parties will have to work out an arrangement covering all 403 Assembly constituencies. Notably, there was no alliance between the Indian National Congress and the Samajwadi Party for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The alliance between two parties came later, when they joined forces under the I.N.D.I.A bloc umbrella for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
According to Congress sources, the party has divided Uttar Pradesh’s 403 Assembly constituencies into three categories — A, B and C — as part of its preparations for seat-sharing. The purpose, Congress leaders say, was to ensure that the party has identified potential candidates and organisational strengths before negotiations begin, rather than finding itself without candidates if an alliance is finalised.
The party has placed 150 constituencies in its first category and is expected to seek those seats during the negotiations. Congress leaders have indicated that they do not want the final number to fall below 100. The Congress has also been working to strengthen its organisation across Uttar Pradesh in all of the 403 seats in the assembly. The party is focusing particularly on Dalit and Brahmin voters while seeking to make inroads among extremely backward communities. While the focus is there on Brahmin and Dalit voters, the party has been inducting Muslim leaders and has given a prominent role in this effort to Imran Pratapgarhi, chairman of the Congress minority department.
The SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had recently launched the party’s PDA — Pichhda (Backward classes), Dalit, and Alpsankhyak (Minorities) — Rath Yatra from Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituency represented by Rahul Gandhi. The move came just as questions over seat-sharing between the two parties were becoming more prominent. Akhilesh Yadav has publicly maintained that the alliance with Congress remains intact.
In the 2019 general election, the SP won five Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh while Congress won one. Five years later, in the 2024 elections, the picture changed dramatically and the SP won 37 of UP’s 80 seats and the Congress won six. The two parties together won 43 seats, putting the INDIA bloc ahead of the BJP-led alliance in the state.
When Akhilesh Yadav began his Rath Yatra from Rae Bareli, some Congress leaders responded by saying that their party could launch its own campaign from Mainpuri and Etawah — two areas strongly associated with the Samajwadi Party. In response, SP leaders said that Congress could begin its campaign wherever it wished, but it would not get votes in Etawah and Mainpuri.
Congress MP Imran Masood has said the Congress will continue its campaign under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership and has rejected suggestions that the party can simply be pushed aside in UP. “Rahul Gandhi ke bina koi kuch nahi (nothing without Rahul Gandhi,” he said. “Don’t be under any illusion, you saw what happened in Bengal.”
Samajwadi Party leaders have responded by stressing that the final decision will be made by the top leadership. Party MP Zia Ur Rehman Barq said the party had raised issues ranging from the SIR of electoral rolls to alleged election irregularities “from the streets to the Assembly.”
But he said Akhilesh Yadav would decide when the alliance was formed and how seats were divided, while Rahul Gandhi would take the decision on the Congress side. “Whether it is the SIR issue, election irregularities or other issues, the Samajwadi Party has raised public issues from the streets to the Assembly. Our leader, Akhilesh Yadav, will decide when the alliance is formed and how the seats are shared. For their part, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will take the decision. Unnecessary statements should be avoided so that the BJP does not get an opportunity. The Samajwadi Party is fully prepared for the Uttar Pradesh elections. We want to contest the elections together under the alliance and work towards forming the government. Even though the Samajwadi Party can contest on its own under Akhilesh Yadav’s leadership and win with a full majority, we want to contest the elections together under the alliance,” he said.
SP MP Ramashankar Rajbhar has also said the final alliance arrangement will be decided by Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav but he described some of the statements coming from Congress leaders as attempts to create pressure. “The alliance between the Samajwadi Party and Congress will be decided by Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, but the absurd statements being made by Congress leaders are only aimed at creating pressure. How much strength Congress has in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is well known,” he said.
In the ruling NDA alliance, the BJP is also stepping up preparations for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The BJP is scheduled to hold a two-day organisational meeting in Mathura on October 3 and 4. BJP national president Nitin Nabin will chair the deliberations, which are expected to focus on the party’s electoral preparedness, organisational strengthening and strategy for the Assembly polls. Senior BJP leaders from Uttar Pradesh, including the state BJP president and other prominent leaders and office-bearers, are expected to attend the meeting.