2 seats for Cong? SP’s seat-sharing claim raises a storm of protest

Lucknow: The Congress has agreed to a seat-sharing arrangement for the November bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party (SP) asserted. However, the claim has been refuted by state Congress president Ajay Rai, who said that the party has no knowledge of such an agreement.

SP spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhury announced that the arrangement between the two parties was finalised. “Out of the 10 seats, the Congress will contest two — Khair (Aligarh) and Ghaziabad — while the SP will field candidates on the remaining eight seats,” Chowdhury stated. The SP has already announced candidates for seven of these seats, including Sumbhul Rana for Meerapur in Muzaffarnagar.

In contrast, Rai emphasised: “As of now, we stand by our demand for five seats.” His statement has cast doubt on the seat-sharing arrangement, raising questions about the unity within the INDIA bloc ahead of the bypolls. The bypolls will be held across 10 Assembly constituencies: Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur city), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj), and Kundarki (Moradabad). Nine of these seats became vacant after their MLAs were elected as MPs in the recent Lok Sabha elections, while the bypoll for Sisamau was necessitated by the disqualification of SP MLA Irfan Solanki.

The Election Commission has scheduled polling for nine of these seats on November 13, with the exception of Milkipur.

The Ghaziabad and Khair seats have been traditionally dominated by the BJP. Initially, the Congress sought five seats from the SP, including Ghaziabad, Khair, Meerapur, Majhawan and Phulpur, but the request was denied.

Political analyst Manoj Bhadra observed that after the elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana, the Congress experienced a decline in its bargaining power, making it clear that it could not secure the five seats initially requested for the UP bypolls. Strategically, Akhilesh Yadav allocated the Khair and Ghaziabad seats — longtime BJP bastions — to Congress, preserving the SP’s electoral stronghold. “By offering these seats to Congress, the SP not only retains its electoral advantage but also keeps the INDIA alliance intact in UP Pradesh,” said Bhadra.