Cong has asked for 181 seats, Akhilesh reveals for first time
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has publicly confirmed that the Congress party is seeking to contest 181 seats in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. While the Congress pushes for a larger share, the SP maintains that candidate winnability remains the primary factor for seat-sharing within the INDIA bloc.
Why it matters
The seat-sharing negotiations between the SP and Congress are critical for the INDIA bloc's strategy to challenge the BJP's dominance in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh.
Lucknow: As an alliance partner of Samajwadi Party in the INDIA bloc, the Congress wants to contest on 181 seats in UP. This was formally confirmed for the first time by SP president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday. The confirmation came moments after Akhilesh said that INDIA bloc will defeat BJP in UP polls and ruled out any change in alliance’s constituents in the future and added that SP has decided how many seats SP will contest.Until now, Congress leadership has been throwing numbers in media interviews -- demanding equal partner status in UP polls and suggesting that it wants to contest on half of the 403 Assembly seats. The SP leadership, however, has been clear on its stance that winnability of candidates will remain the sole criterion for fielding candidates rather than count of seats.
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