Akhilesh Yadav dismisses seat sharing figure as Cong seeks 175+ seats

After much dilly-dallying, the Congress has officially begun seat-sharing talks with the Samajwadi Party for next year's Uttar Pradesh elections and submitted an initial list of more than 175 seats where it feels it can make an impression in an alliance. Congress' Uttar Pradesh in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam told a news agency that the party shared the list with Samajwadi Party leaders a couple of days ago; the two parties' leaders will soon discuss the seat-sharing arrangements in detail. Gautam also hinted that the party is open to negotiations ahead of polls to the 403-seat Uttar Pradesh Assembly. The leadership of both parties will sit together to thrash out the nitty-gritty of the seat-sharing arrangements, Gautam said.
However, not many within the Samajwadi Party are convinced of the Congress' political heft to demand 175-200 seats, the 2024 Lok Sabha poll results notwithstanding, sources said. A senior Samajwadi Party leader said, "I think our leader Akhilesh Yadav has made it clear that winnability is the sole criterion (for contesting the polls). Anyone can demand anything but in politics, to reach an acceptable and meaningful solution, you have to move beyond posturing." The scepticism is not baseless as the Congress' graph in Uttar Pradesh has been dipping since 1989, when it last held power in the most populous state of the country.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has said the collective goal is to remove the BJP from power, and the alliance will move forward effectively. Speaking to reporters in Lucknow on Friday, he said, "The Congress, the Samajwadi Party, and the INDIA bloc must be strengthened. Our collective goal is to see that the BJP is removed. To ensure the ouster of the BJP, we will make people understand, and we will do so. The alliance will move forward effectively to defeat the BJP." Yadav asserted that nobody knows the actual seat-sharing formula being discussed between the two
INDIA bloc partners.

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh: On the reports that the Congress has staked a claim to 170 seats for the assembly elections, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav says, "You don't know anything. Someone claims there are 172 seats and thinks they’ve leaked that figure; another says 160 seats and believes they’ve leaked that information; yet another talks about 150 seats, thinking they’ve leaked that number. No one knows the truth. We, however, know the truth. Our goal is to ensure that the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, and the INDI alliance grow stronger. Our collective objective is to remove the BJP from power. If we need to persuade anyone to achieve this, we will do so. To defeat the BJP, the alliance will move forward with full strength and better coordination."

— IANS (@ians_india) October 23, 2026

The Congress contested the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on its own but could win only two seats, faring worse than its seven-seat show in 2017. However, the 2024 Lok Sabha poll results -- which saw the Congress win six seats and its ally Samajwadi Party secure 37 seats, limiting the BJP to 33 -- have raised the party's hopes, its leaders admitted. The 2027 contest is shaping up primarily between the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Samajwadi Party-led opposition, with the Congress seeking a substantial share of seats in a renewed alliance. Smaller NDA allies, including the Apna Dal (S) and the Nishad Party, could play supporting roles. The BSP remains a separate factor in Uttar Pradesh, where seat-sharing and caste equations will influence the contest.