New Delhi: With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections approaching, all political parties are pulling out all the stops. A fierce contest is expected between the NDA and the INDIA bloc in this political battleground. A decisive clash between the NDA and the INDIA bloc had already been witnessed during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The two INDIA bloc partners, Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP), could once again pose a significant challenge to the NDA.
However, seat-sharing remains a major hurdle for both parties; there appears to be no consensus on seat allocation. Leaders from both parties are even at odds amidst the ongoing debate over seat-sharing. Congress has its sights set on constituencies with significant Muslim populations and seats that the SP is reluctant to concede.
Congress Demands Seats Won in Lok Sabha Elections
While an alliance between the SP and Congress in Uttar Pradesh is considered certain, the issue of seat-sharing remains unresolved. According to a party official, Congress has expressed a desire to contest the Muslim-majority seats as well as the constituencies corresponding to the six Lok Sabha seats it currently holds. Congress is staking a claim to all the assembly segments within the Raebareli and Amethi Lok Sabha constituencies.
Kishori Lal Sharma (contesting on a Congress ticket) won from Amethi, while Rahul Gandhi himself secured victory in Raebareli. Other Congress victories include Imran Masood (Saharanpur), Tanuj Punia (Barabanki), Rakesh Rathore (Sitapur), and Ujjwal Raman Singh (Allahabad).
Districts in Congress’s Focus
Congress is eyeing 100 to 125 seats for the Uttar Pradesh elections. Of these, 50 to 60 are in Muslim-majority areas. A significant number of these seats are located in Western UP. Key districts in this region include Rampur, Moradabad, Sambhal, Bijnor, Saharanpur, Shamli, Amroha, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Bulandshahr, and Bareilly. The Muslim population here ranges from approximately 33% to 50%, with the highest concentration in Rampur. In Saharanpur, Congress MP Imran Masood appears to be staking a claim for the party across all assembly seats.
Congress Once Enjoyed Strong Muslim Support
It is worth noting that in the 1980s, the Congress party enjoyed robust support from the Muslim community in Uttar Pradesh. Will this support return? According to Congress members, this will only be possible if their candidates contest elections, win, and serve the people in Muslim-majority districts and constituencies.
On the other hand, the Samajwadi Party (SP) believes that while it is actively championing ‘PDA’ politics in UP, Muslims remain its strongest support base. The SP has secured power multiple times largely due to the Muslim-Yadav alliance; consequently, it is unwilling to alienate this constituency by ceding Muslim-majority districts and seats to the Congress.
