SP, Congress finalise seat sharing in Uttar Pradesh

Samajwadi Party and Indian National Congress in a joint press conference on Wednesday declared an alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Speaking at the conference, Congress Uttar Pradesh in-charge Avinash Pande said, “I am happy to inform you that it has been agreed that in Uttar Pradesh the INC will contest on 17 seats and the remaining 63 seats will have candidates of INDIA Alliance – from SP and other parties.” The sources said earlier the Congress was getting a “bad deal” with seats where the chances of winning were low and the party was seeking alternative seats. As per an agreement reached after the phone call between Priyanka Gandhi and Yadav, the Congress has now got seats such as Sitapur and Barabanki. Apart from these seats, the Congress is also likely to get Kanpur, Varanasi, Saharanpur, Amroha, Fatehpur Sikri and Jhansi among others. The Congress is now getting a “good deal” in the alliance, a source said. In the Moradabad division, the Congress was asking for two seats but has settled for Amroha only, the sources said.