The Congress has asked for a third seat from the Samajwadi Party for the bypolls in Uttar Pradesh as the party is unhappy with the two seats allocated to it, according to an India Today TV report.
Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had informally discussed the seat-sharing for upcoming bypolls during the swearing-in ceremony of Omar Abdullah as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar on October 16, the report said citing sources.
Currently, the Samajwadi Party has offered Ghaziabad and Khair seats to Congress. However, Congress is still claiming the Phulpur seat, where the Samajwadi Party has announced its own candidate, it added.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey, Party Chief Ajay Rai, and Party Leader Aradhana Mishra are negotiating with the Akhilesh Yadav-led party. However, the Samajwadi Party is not planning to give more seats, the report said.
The seat-sharing issue comes as Congress is under immense pressure from its allies to revise its poll strategy after the disappointing Haryana Assembly Election results and its failure to secure a seat in the Jammu region.
However, there are speculations that the Gandhi family discussed the Phulpur seat with Akhilesh Yadav, a seat where the Samajwadi Party has chosen Mustafa Siddiqui candidate, who had lost the previous election, the report stated.
The top leaders of Congress and Akhilesh Yadav will soon finalise the seat-sharing for UP bypolls, the report added citing sources from Congress.
The UP bypolls for nine seats will be conducted on November 13. The nine seats will include Karhal (Mainpuri), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Ghaziabad, Sisamau (Kanpur), Majhawan (Mirzapur), Phulpur (Prayagraj), Khair (Aligarh), Kundarki (Moradabad).
The seats fell vacant after the MLAs were elected as MPs in Lok Sabha Elections 2024, while Samajwadi Partly MLA from Sisamau, Irfan Solanki, was disqualified on criminal charges.
The counting of votes is scheduled for November 20.
The Congress and Samajwadi Party had previously contested together as the INDIA bloc for Lok Sabha elections.
