Setback to INDIA bloc: Seat-sharing talks between Congress, SP fall through due to impasse over Moradabad, Bijnor seats, say sources

Lok Sabha elections news: Seat-sharing talks between the Mallikarjun Kharge-led Congress and Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) have fallen through in Uttar Pradesh. The two parties disagreed over the allocation of three crucial seats in the Moradabad division. 

The Congress also sought the Bijnor seat from the Samajwadi Party but the latter was unwilling to concede either of the two seats, India Today reported citing sources. The Samajwadi Party was also not willing to concede the Ballia seat to the grand old party. 

The development came after Akhilesh Yadav made it crystal clear that his party would not join the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra until a seat-sharing arrangement was finalised with the grand old party. 

On Monday, the Samajwadi Party made the Congress a "final offer" of 17 Lok Sabha seats. Previously, it had offered 11 seats to the grand old party. The Congress reportedly gave a list of 28 seats to the Samajwadi Party, of which 10 have a significant Muslim population. 

Did the two factions agree on anything at all?

Sources said that the agreed-upon seats included constituencies like Amethi, Rae Bareli, Mathura, Varanasi, Fatehpur Sikri, Ghaziabad, Prayagraj, Hathras, Bulandshahr, Deoria, Bansgaon, Maharajganj, Barabanki, Kanpur, Jhansi, and Saharanpur. 

Samajwadi Party candidate list so far 

Mainpuri- Dimple Yadav

Ghazipur- Afzal Ansari

Muzaffarnagar- Harendra Malik

Shahjahanpur- Rajesh Kashyap

Misrikh- Rampal Rajvanshi

Mohanlalganj- RK Chaudhary

Pratapgarh- SP Singh Baghel

Bahraich- Ramesh Gautam

Gonda- Shreya Verma

Chandauli- Virendra Singh

Amla- Neeraj

Sambhal- Shafiqur Rahman Barq

Firozabad- Akshay Yadav

Eta- Devesh Shakya

Budaun- Dharmendra Yadav

Khiri- Utkarsh Verma

Dhaurahra- Anand Bhadauria

Unnao- Anu Tandon

Lucknow- Ravidas Mehrotra 

Farukhabad- Naval Kishore Shakya 

Akbarpur- Rajaram Pal

Banda- Shivshankar Singh Patel 

Faizabad- Avdesh Prasad 

Ambedkar Nagar- Lalji verma 

Basti- Ram Prasad Choudhary 

Gorakhpur- Kajal Nishad 

Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha election results 2019 

In 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 62 out of the total 80 seats on its own with nearly 50 per cent votes. While the BSP bagged 10 seats, the SP won 5 seats. Congress won the Gandhi family's bastion Rae Bareli but lost out on Amethi. 

Also Read: Lok Sabha elections 2024: 'Abki baar, Satta se bahar,' says Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on BJP

Also Read: 2024 Lok Sabha polls: Samajwadi Party releases first list of 16 candidates, Dimple Yadav to contest from Mainpuri