Congress in the SP supplementary elections: negotiations on ticket, future perspectives | Political news

Despite this setback, Pandey stressed that discussions on ticket distribution are ongoing and a solution will be found through timely communication.

“It's not a big problem. There is still potential ahead,” he stressed.

In the last Lok Sabha elections, the Congress, in alliance with the SP, contested 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. The SP won 37 seats, while the Congress won six, a morale boost for a party that has been distant from the state for years.

Eyeing the 2027 UP Assembly elections, the Congress was looking forward to the upcoming by-elections to test its tactics.

The state president, Ajay Rai, even suggested that the Congress contest five of the ten available seats. However, the recent election results in Haryana saw the SP claim six seats, two of which were eyed by the Congress.

On Wednesday, SP announced candidates for Karhal (Mainpuri), Sisamau (Kanpur Nagar), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Kathari (Ambedkarnagar), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Mazhawan (Mirzapur) constituencies.

Notably, Phulpur and Mazhawan were among the five constituencies that the Congress wanted to contest.

SP is yet to announce candidates for Kundarki, Mirapur, Ghaziabad and Khair constituencies.

In the 2022 legislative elections, the Ghaziabad seat was won by BJP's Atul Garg with 1,50,205 votes, while the SP came second, the BSP third and the Congress fourth. Here the Congress candidate obtained 11,818 votes and SP obtained 44,668 votes.

BJP's Anup Valmiki won Khair Assembly seat in Aligarh district by securing 1,39,643 votes against BSP in second, RLD in third and Congress in fourth. Here the candidate for Congress received just 1,514 votes.

Political experts say that in 2022 elections, Ghaziabad seat was not favorable for SP and Mirapur and Khair seats were given to ally RLD, so SP may give these seats to Congress to save ties.

Political analysts said the SP may allot the Mirapur and Khair seats to the Congress to sustain the alliance as they were less favorable to the SP in the previous elections.

“Our loss in Haryana was due to overconfidence, but in UP we are actively working on the ground. Together, the Congress and SP will challenge the supremacy of the BJP and fight for victory,” Rai said.

He said the aim of both parties is to end the BJP's “Jungle Raj” and people will respond accordingly.

Rai said the Congress proposed to contest five seats where the BJP lost in 2022, but the SP has already announced candidates for two of them.

Both Rai and other Congress leaders underlined the importance of an alliance with the SP, playing down concerns over the distribution of tickets for the by-elections.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav echoed the sentiment, assuring that the alliance would remain intact.

Pandey said, “The current political scenario in UP is complex. Even as alliances evolve, the challenges of BJP governance are a collective struggle for all of us.”

He recognized the recent political developments in Haryana as a wake-up call, underlining the need for greater diligence in his efforts.

The by-elections will be Kathari (Ambedkarnagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Mirapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Mazhawan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur Nagar), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Kundarki (Moradabad ).

The Sisamau seat fell vacant following the conviction of SP MLA Irfan Solanki, while others remain vacant due to resignations of MLAs elected to Parliament.

The electoral calendar has not yet been announced.

In the 2022 UP Assembly elections, the SP won in Sisamau, Katehari, Karhal, Milkipur and Kundarki, while the BJP won in Phulpur, Ghaziabad and Khair, the Nishad Party won in Mazhawan. The Mirapur seat was occupied by SP's former ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).