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After improving its seat tally and vote share in Uttar Pradesh in the recent Lok Sabha polls, a buoyant Congress is looking to stake its claim for three seats in the upcoming Assembly bypolls in its talks with its INDIA bloc partner Samajwadi Party (SP). These negotiations are likely to be tough between the two allies, with the SP looking unlikely to cede certain seats. The UP Congress on Sunday held a meeting of its district chiefs, in-charges and other prominent leaders from the 10 Assembly seats that are slated to go to the bypolls. The bypolls in most of these seats were necessitated after their sitting MLAs quit to contest the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress meeting held by state party chief Ajay Rai was aimed at getting feedback from the ground on the Congress’s chances in the bypolls. Sources said the meeting decided that in its negotiations with the SP in the coming days the Congress would leave out the five sitting seats of the SP, which include Karhal, Sisamau, Katehri, Kundarki and Milkipur. Of the remaining five seats, the grand old party would push for “two-three seats” for its candidates. The SP is the Congress’s senior partner in UP. Significantly, the Congress had not won any of these 10 seats in the 2022 Assembly elections. In the 2022 polls, out of 493 seats, the BJP had won 255 as against the SP’s 111 and the Congress’s two. Of the ten seats bound for bypolls, five were won by the SP, three by the BJP, while the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and NISHAD party clinched one each. Congress sources say the party is looking to stake its claim over the Meerapur, Manjhwa and Phulpur seats. Meerapur was won by RLD leader Chandan Chauhan in 2022, who has now vacated the seat after being elected as an MP from the Meerapur parliamentary seat. The RLD is now the B JP’s ally. Another BJP’s ally NISHAD party’s Vinod Kumar Bind won the Manjhwa seat in 2022 and the party is hoping to get the seat in the bypolls as well. Phulpur was won by the BJP, but the Congress believes it has a chance if it contests the seat in alliance with the SP. However, the SP does not appear to be willing to part with these three seats, which may lead to tough negotiations between the two INDIA allies. SP president Akhilesh Yadav even met some probable candidates from his party in Meerapur on Friday, said an SP leader. Another SP leader said that Phulpur also might not go to the Congress because his party has a strong candidate in Mujtaba Siddiqui. The SP is currently said to be willing to give the Ghaziabad and Khair seats to the Congress, say party leaders. In Ghaziabad, which the BJP’s Atul Garg had won, the SP had polled about 44,000 votes and came second, losing with a margin of one lakh votes. The Congress had polled just 12,000 votes, finishing in the fourth place. In Khair won by the BJP’s Anoop Pradhan, other equations are at play. The SP had left the seat for its then ally RLD in the 2022 polls. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) finished as the runner-up, while the RLD stood third. The Congress candidate forfeited his deposit there. Both the Congress and the SP are not too eager to contest this seat, and it remains to be seen who will eventually get it. An SP leader in Delhi said the party would perhaps only end up giving one seat to the Congress, adding, “Giving them two seats where we are strong looks unlikely.” Having been able to consolidate a section of OBC, Dalit and minority votes in its favour, the Congress is hoping to make a dent in the seats held by the ruling BJP-led NDA. “The SP has a rightful claim on the five seats that were represented by them and have been vacated. We are hoping to claim two to three Assembly from the remaining five. We will hold internal discussions about the probable strong faces who can contest,” said a Congress leader. SP national spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said the discussions regarding bypoll seats will happen with the leaders in due course. “The top leadership of the two parties will sit and discuss the seats. We can reach an understanding based on that,” he said. In the recent Lok Sabha polls, the Congress won six of the 17 seats it contested — a rise from the two in 2019 — and got 9.46% vote share. The SP won 37 of the 63 seats it contested and got 33.59% votes. The schedule for the 10 Assembly bypolls is yet to be announced by the Election Commission. None
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