Lucknow: The Congress is eyeing about 125 seats as part of an alliance with the Samajwadi Party for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, with party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi holding a three-hour meeting with State leaders on seat allocation.
According to party insiders, roughly 175 seats came up for discussion at Monday's meeting. The Congress has drawn up a list of about 100 "Category A" seats, 40 to 50 "Category B" seats and 25 to 35 "Category C" seats. Another meeting is expected this week, after which the party may place a list of about 125 to 150 seats before the Samajwadi Party. The aim is to finalise the seat-sharing arrangement by November.
Ms. Gandhi is expected to play a key role in the negotiations with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. She had led the party's campaign in 2022, when the Congress fought alone and won only two seats.
This time the party is working from data from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the 2017 Assembly elections, with the goal of contesting at least one Assembly seat in every Lok Sabha constituency. In 2024, fighting in alliance with the Samajwadi Party, the Congress won six of the 17 seats it contested. The party led in 38 Assembly segments and finished second in 42 others, and all these 80 seats are on its wishlist.
While both sides appear positive about an alliance, the Samajwadi Party is said to be unwilling to spare more than 60 to 65 seats for the Congress, with Mr. Yadav repeatedly stressing "winnability" as the test for seat allocation. Mr. Yadav has begun finalising candidates on a number of seats, aiming to contest around 350 of the 403 seats in the State.
The Congress's Uttar Pradesh in-charge has indicated that the party will not settle for fewer than a certain number of seats in the alliance, signalling that hard bargaining lies ahead.