Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav has formally confirmed that the Congress party has requested 181 seats to contest in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. This disclosure marks the first time the specific seat demand has been publicly acknowledged by the SP leadership.
During the HT Leadership Summit in Delhi on Saturday, Yadav addressed speculation regarding seat-sharing negotiations within the INDIA bloc. When asked if the Congress had sought 180 seats, he replied, “Add one to 180.” The SP chief affirmed that the relationship between the two parties remains positive, stating that the current alliance, which saw success in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, remains unchanged.
While the Congress has historically suggested it should be treated as an equal partner, implying a demand for half of the 403 assembly seats, the SP leadership has consistently prioritized the winnability of candidates over specific seat quotas. Yadav reiterated that the Samajwadi Party has already determined the number of seats it intends to contest and emphasized that the primary goal of the alliance is to defeat the BJP in the state.
Regarding potential alliances, Yadav noted that his party’s current partnership is built on the principles of Baba Saheb Ambedkar. He ruled out any future changes to the existing constituents of the INDIA bloc in Uttar Pradesh, maintaining that the coalition is focused on repeating the performance seen in the previous Lok Sabha elections.
Key facts
- Akhilesh Yadav confirmed the Congress party officially requested 181 seats for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
- The Samajwadi Party and Congress won 43 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
- In the 2022 assembly elections, the Congress contested 399 seats but won only two, with candidates losing their deposits in 387 of those constituencies.
- The Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly consists of 403 total seats.
Why it matters
The finalization of a seat-sharing agreement is critical for the INDIA bloc as it attempts to consolidate the gains made during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where the alliance collectively outperformed the BJP in the state. The negotiation process remains a focal point for the opposition's strategy to challenge the BJP's standing in Uttar Pradesh.
Source: Times of India
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