New Delhi: Gearing up for the highly anticipated 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the Congress party has officially set its electoral preparations into motion. Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge has convened a crucial high-level meeting on Monday morning to chalk out the party’s seat-sharing strategy and state-level roadmap.
According to a report by ABP News, the meeting, scheduled for 11:00 AM, will see the participation of top party brass, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. Other key state leaders, such as UP in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam, UP Congress President Aradhana Mishra, and Working President Imran Masood, along with all state co-in-charges, are also expected to attend the strategic session.
The primary agenda of the Monday meeting revolves around establishing a dedicated coordination committee for seat-sharing negotiations with their regional ally, the Samajwadi Party (SP). Furthermore, the party leadership is expected to give its final stamp of approval to the new Uttar Pradesh Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) list, effectively solidifying the organisational structure ahead of the intense poll campaign.
This internal Congress huddle comes right before formal alliance negotiations kick off in the state capital. Reports indicate that scaling back from its initial ambition of contesting 200 seats, the Congress has prepared a revised list of 181 constituencies to present to the SP. Ground-level reports compiled by the Congress’s central and state units suggest a favourable shift in the local political climate, prompting the party to aggressively assert its strength on these specific seats.
However, the Samajwadi Party remains reportedly skeptical about the 181-seat demand. Reflecting on the previous assembly elections, where the Congress managed to secure merely two seats with a narrow 2.33 per cent vote share, the SP leadership is treading cautiously. SP Supremo Akhilesh Yadav has categorically maintained that seat distribution will be determined strictly on the basis of a candidate’s “winnability” and ground-level electoral merit, rather than historical alliances.
The political discourse will move to the next phase on November 17, when formal seat-sharing talks between the two parties officially commence in Lucknow. Dedicated committees from both the Congress and the Samajwadi Party will evaluate the constituencies on a seat-by-seat basis before the top leadership makes a joint, final announcement regarding the alliance’s seat-sharing formula.