Divide difficult seats equally for U.P. Assembly elections, says Congress amid seat-sharing row with SP

Amid the war of words between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress over seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections, Congress leaders on Monday (October 5, 2026) said the quality of seats also matters.

“Quality seats matter in any alliance. Here (in the SP-Congress alliance), quality along with quantity (the number of seats) will also matter,” Imran Masood, working president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, told The Hindu.

Another senior Congress leader said that any workable framework on seat-sharing must align with ground realities.

“In 2017, Congress was given 105 seats, and we won only seven. The alliance partner will question the strike rate, but they shouldn’t downplay the fact that out of the 100-odd seats, more than 70 were extremely difficult to win, such as many urban constituencies or seats mostly represented by the BJP in the past. A realistic approach should be to divide difficult seats equally, and the remaining seats in a 2:1 ratio between the SP and Congress. No one can deny the appeal of Rahul Gandhi among marginalised groups, as is evident from the 2024 poll outcomes in many parts of the country,” the leader said.

The Congress says around 80 seats in U.P. are difficult to win in light of past outcomes and social realities. U.P. consists of 403 Assembly seats.

The tussle over seat-sharing escalated in recent days after SP Lok Sabha MP from Pratapgarh, Shivpal Singh Patel, said that Congress should not expect more than 50 seats. U.P. Congress in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam hit back, saying that in such a case, the SP should clearly state whether it wants to form an alliance, dismissing Mr. Patel’s statement as frivolous.