Before the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Congress has removed Avinash Pandey, who was in charge for a long time, and handed over the responsibility to Dalit leader Rajendra Pal Gautam. Rajendra Pal Gautam has been a Delhi leader and minister in the previous Aam Aadmi Party government. Congress has made a big move by appointing him in-charge of a big and important state like Uttar Pradesh. When he reached UP for the first time after becoming in-charge, instead of attacking BJP, he first targeted his own Samajwadi Party, which created a situation of confusion.
Last Sunday, Rajendra Pal Gautam demanded equal i.e. half the seats in the alliance from Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh for the 2027 assembly elections. Reasoning behind this, he said that Congress is a big national party, hence it should get equal share and equal respect in seat distribution. After this statement, the discussion regarding seat distribution in the politics of Uttar Pradesh has intensified. However, Samajwadi Party has given a measured response to this demand of Congress. SP has said that seat sharing will be decided by Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi only, hence public statements are not right.
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Dalits and Muslims are at the centre…
In fact, even before Rajendra Pal Gautam’s statement, Congress is continuously pressurizing SP to contest on majority seats in UP through leaders like MP Imran Masood. Recently, instead of attacking BJP, Imran Masood accused Samajwadi Party of not raising the voice of Muslims. Both Congress and SP are the most prominent parties of ‘India Alliance’. With the support of Samajwadi Party, Congress has been successful in winning 6 Lok Sabha seats in UP.
Eye on SP’s core vote
In the Lok Sabha of 2024, SP has defeated BJP on the strength of its PDA. In such a situation, Akhilesh Yadav is focusing on Dalit voters with this PDA slogan. Muslims have always been supporting SP. But, by getting statements from leaders like Imran Masood and Rajendra Pal Gautam, Congress is undoubtedly playing politics with SP to get more seats in the seat distribution. Amidst these developments, Akhilesh Yadav has made it clear and indicated to Congress that his preparations are complete on all 403 assembly seats.
Congress is continuously demanding more and more seats over SP, but on what basis is the national party Congress demanding half the seats from SP in UP? Let us know how Congress has performed in the last two assembly elections…
Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections are to be held in early 2027. For this, Congress was earlier demanding about 120 seats, but the UP in-charge has directly demanded half the seats. However, the final decision on seat sharing has not been taken yet. According to reports, Samajwadi Party may give 60–80 seats to Congress.
Got 6 seats because of SP
In such a situation, Congress fought the last Lok Sabha elections under the leadership of SP. In alliance with Congress, SP made it contest elections on 17 seats in UP. Congress could win only 6 out of 17 seats. Accordingly, the strike rate of Congress was around 35 percent. This election breathed life into the dead Congress in UP, after which Congress is expanding its presence from Lok Sabha to the state.
Congress got 2.33 percent votes in the last election.
Earlier, assembly elections of 2022 were held. Congress contested alone in this election. It had fielded candidates on 399 seats out of 403 but had to face defeat. BJP had massively defeated Congress in this election. The party had got only 2 seats. At the same time, Congress got about 2.33 percent votes. But, regarding the upcoming elections this time, Congress is saying that Rahul Gandhi’s image has strengthened for some time. Also, Congress believes that it can be strong in those areas where the Samajwadi Party is relatively weak. The party says that due to the weakening of BSP, a part of Dalit votes may come towards it.
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In 2017, the party won 7 out of 114 seats.
Congress, meanwhile, has argued that it is necessary to contest on sufficient assembly seats to strengthen the organization in Uttar Pradesh and prepare for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. This is the reason why despite being in the India alliance, it is making every possible effort to strengthen itself in front of SP. However, in the 2017 legislative elections, the Congress contested in alliance with the Samajwadi Party. SP had given him 114 seats to contest in the alliance. Congress’s vote percentage in this election was around 6.25 percent. At the same time, the party won 7 out of 114 seats.
Seat sharing talks are not easy
The Congress could win only 7 seats in the 2017 assembly elections despite its alliance with the Samajwadi Party, while its performance was even weaker if it contested the 2022 elections alone. It got only 2 seats. Therefore, there is an argument within the Samajwadi Party that the distribution of seats should be based on the past performance of the Assembly. At the same time, Congress says that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections have shown its new political potential, hence seats should not be decided only on the basis of 2017 and 2022 figures.
Only time will tell on what basis the seats will be divided between SP and Congress in the assembly elections in UP. But, the above data shows that talks between Samajwadi Party and Congress regarding seat sharing are not easy.
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