INDIA bloc seals first seat-sharing agreement as SP, Congress join hands

Eight months after leading Opposition parties resolved to fight together in the 2024 Lok Sabha (LS) elections, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc announced its first seat-sharing agreement on Wednesday. The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress reached an agreement to contest Uttar Pradesh’s 80 LS seats.
 

In Lucknow, leaders of the two parties announced that the SP and its smaller allies will contest 63 seats, and the Congress 17. Sources in the Congress said that General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra intervened on her party’s behalf to speak to SP president Akhilesh Yadav to iron out the rough spots in the agreement that the interlocutors of the two parties had discussed threadbare for over a month.
 

UP’s seat-sharing agreement is the first that the beleaguered INDIA has announced. The Opposition grouping has witnessed attrition, with allies exiting, such as the Rashtriya Lok Dal, or ruling out seat-sharing with the Congress, as the Trinamool Congress did in West Bengal.
 

The seat-sharing agreement was announced at a joint press conference in Lucknow. The SP had earlier announced its candidates on 31 of the 80 seats, including a few that the Congress was keen to contest. The SP agreed to withdraw its candidates from Varanasi and allow Congress to contest Amroha. Sources said Yadav will likely join the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the coming days. Yadav had conveyed to the Congress his inability to take part in the Yatra pending the seat-sharing agreement.
 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will share the stage with Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury at a rally in Patna on March 3.
 

The 17 seats that the Congress will contest include Raebareli, Amethi and Varanasi. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has represented Raebareli since 2004 but was elected to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

Party leader Rahul Gandhi lost the Amethi seat in 2019.
 

Varanasi is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency. However, the SP and the Congress alliance in the 2017 Assembly polls had failed miserably. The SP had an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, where the two parties won five and ten seats, respectively. The SP later lost Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha bypolls. Until now, the BSP has maintained it will not ally with any party in UP. The BJP and its ally Apna Dal won 64 seats in 2019 and 73 in 2014. The Congress won 21 seats in UP in 2009, two in 2014 and one in 2019.

Congress sources said the agreement in UP will pave the way for the alliance partners to announce similar trucks in other key states in the coming days, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Tamil Nadu. As part of the Congress’ seat-sharing agreement with the SP, the latter will contest Madhya Pradesh’s Khajuraho Lok Sabha seat. It will support the Congress in the rest of the state’s 29 seats.

INDIA bloc status check

State-wise seat sharing formula:

UP (80): Seat sharing formally announced; SP and its allies to contest 63, Congress 17
 

Delhi (7): AAP and Congress working on a 4-3 formula
 

Madhya Pradesh (29): SP to contest 1 seat, Congress the rest
 

West Bengal (42): Trinamool has ruled out seat sharing with Congress
 

Jharkhand (14): Congress and JMM contested 2019 polls in alliance, set for a repeat
 

Bihar (40): RJD, Congress and Left parties likely to announce seat sharing at a rally in Patna on March 3; JD (U) exited the ‘grand alliance’ in January
 

J&K (5): National Conference has ruled out seat sharing with Congress and PDP in the Valley as it currently holds 3 of the UT’s 5 Lok Sabha seats
 

Punjab (13): AAP and Congress have rejected any possibility of a seat adjustment
 

Maharashtra (48): Seat sharing between Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar) and VBA in the works, could be announced later this week
 

Tamil Nadu (39): Seat sharing in the works among DMK, Congress and the Left; the alliance won 38 of 39 seats in 2019
 

AAP wants seat sharing with Congress in Goa and Gujarat