Congress, SP set for UP seat-sharing talks as parties prepare competing plans

The Congress and Samajwadi Party are preparing to begin formal discussions on seat-sharing for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections next week, with Congress sources saying the party has identified 150 constituencies it intends to seek in negotiations.

Both parties have repeatedly said they intend to contest the election together, but the division of Uttar Pradesh's 403 Assembly seats has emerged as the principal point of friction. Formal negotiations are expected to begin in October, with any final arrangement requiring approval from the top leadership of both parties, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.

The Uttar Pradesh Assembly election is expected in February-March 2027, although the Election Commission has not yet announced the formal schedule.

Congress prepares a broad seat-sharing pitch

According to Congress sources, the party has divided all 403 Assembly constituencies into three categories, A, B and C, as part of its preparations for the negotiations.

Congress leaders say the exercise is intended to ensure that the party has identified potential candidates and assessed its organisational strength before talks begin, rather than being left without candidates if an alliance is eventually finalised.

The party has placed 150 constituencies in its first category and is expected to seek these seats during negotiations. Congress leaders have indicated that they do not want the final number to fall below 100.

Other reports have put the Congress's potential demand higher, at between 150 and 200 seats, while also indicating that the party is preparing to contest all 403 constituencies if an agreement cannot be reached.

The Congress has also been working to strengthen its organisation across all 403 Assembly seats. The party is focusing particularly on Dalit and Brahmin voters while seeking to make inroads among extremely backward communities.

Alongside this outreach, the party has been inducting Muslim leaders and has given a prominent role to Imran Pratapgarhi, chairman of the Congress minority department. Among the prominent Muslim Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh is Saharanpur MP Imran Masood.

Akhilesh stresses alliance but seat formula remains open

The Samajwadi Party, meanwhile, has begun its own preparations for the election. Akhilesh Yadav recently launched the party's PDA, or Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak, Rath Yatra from Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituency represented by Rahul Gandhi.

The launch came as questions over seat-sharing between the two parties were becoming more prominent. Yadav has publicly maintained that the alliance with the Congress remains intact.

At the Rae Bareli launch, Yadav also indicated that the distribution of seats should be based on the ability of candidates or parties to win the respective constituencies.

The choice of Rae Bareli, a Congress stronghold represented in the Lok Sabha by Rahul Gandhi, has added significance as the two parties prepare to enter seat-sharing talks. The PDA campaign is intended to consolidate the SP's outreach among backward classes, Dalits and minorities ahead of the Assembly election.

Both parties are simultaneously preparing for the possibility that they may have to contest a large number of seats on their own. That parallel planning has contributed to public sparring between leaders of the two allies.

When 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.

SP leaders responded that Congress could begin its campaign wherever it wished, but would not get votes in Etawah and Mainpuri.

2024 results shape negotiations, leaders urge caution

The contrasting approaches have their roots partly in the change in the two parties' electoral position between the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In 2019, the Samajwadi Party won five Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh while the Congress won one.

Five years later, in the 2024 election, the SP won 37 of Uttar Pradesh's 80 Lok Sabha seats and the Congress won six. Together, the two parties won 43 seats, putting the INDIA bloc ahead of the BJP-led alliance in the state.

Congress's Uttar Pradesh in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam told NDTV that the INDIA bloc would contest the Assembly election together under Akhilesh Yadav's leadership.

Congress MP Imran Masood has also said that the party will continue its campaign under Rahul Gandhi's leadership and rejected suggestions that Congress can simply be pushed aside in Uttar Pradesh.

"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, however, have stressed that the final decision on the alliance and seat distribution will rest with the top leadership.

Party MP Zia Ur Rehman Barq said the SP 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 the 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 likewise said that the final alliance arrangement will be decided by Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, but described some statements 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.

With both parties building their organisations and preparing constituency-level plans, the forthcoming talks will have to reconcile Congress's demand for a substantial share of the 403 seats with the SP's emphasis on seat-level winnability. A meeting between Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Akhilesh Yadav has also been reported as being under consideration for the second week of October in Delhi.