U.P. assembly bypoll: Cong, SP to take decision on seat sharing soon

The Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) are in touch and will soon take a decision on seat sharing for bypoll to 10 assembly seats to be held in Uttar Pradesh in coming months. Both political parties, which contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election as partners of the INDIA bloc, will also contest the bypoll in alliance and a decision about the number of seats that each partner will contest is yet to be decided.

“Yes, the Congress and the SP are holding discussions at the top level about the number of seats that the grand old party will fight in the bypoll in alliance with the SP,” said Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Ajay Rai on Monday.

Although Rai did not give any specific number, senior Congress leaders said the party should stake a claim to the seats that were held by the BJP and its allies.

“Out of these 10 seats, five have been with the Samajwadi Party while the remaining five have been with the BJP (including those held by the RLD and the NISHAD Party). We should get these five seats to contest in the by-election,” said a senior Congress leader.

Uttar Pradesh assembly declared these 10 seats vacant between June 7 and 18 and the Election Commission of India will hold the bypoll there within six months from the date of vacancy. The ECI may hold the bypoll there along with the election to assemblies of Haryana and Maharashtra later this year.

Ten assembly seats set to go to bypoll include Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur Nagar), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Kundarki (Moradabad).

Of them, Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar) has fallen vacant following the election of Samajwadi Party’s Lalji Verma to Lok Sabha from Ambedkar Nagar Lok Sabha seat. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav resigned from Karhal (Mainpuri) assembly seat as he got elected to Lok Sabha from Kannauj.

SP leader Awadhesh Prasad’s election to Lok Sabha from Ayodhya led to his resignation from Milkipur (Ayodhya) seat. Chandan Chauhan of Rashtriya Lok Dal resigned from his Meerapur assembly seat of Muzaffarnagar following his election to Lok Sabha from Bijnor.

BJP’s Atul Garg resigned from Ghaziabad assembly seat following his election to Lok Sabha from Ghaziabad. BJP’s Vinod Kumar Bind resigned from his Majhawan assembly seat of Mirzapur following his election to Lok Sabha from Bhadohi.

Samajwadi Party’s Hazi Irfan Solanki’s Sisamau assembly seat in Kanpur Nagar has been declared vacant following his disqualification in view of his seven-year imprisonment by MP/MLA court.

Anoop Singh alias Anoop Pradhan Balmiki of the BJP has resigned from his Khair assembly seat of Aligarh following his election from Hathras Lok Sabha seat. BJP’s Praveen Patel has resigned from Phulpur assembly seat of Prayagraj following his election to Lok Sabha from Phulpur Lok Sabha seat.

Similarly, SP leader Zia ur Rahman Barq’s Kundarki assembly seat in Moradabad has fallen vacant following his election to Lok Sabha from Sambhal.