Congress to soon take a call on its claim for assembly by-poll seats

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Congress will soon take a call on the legislative assembly seats that the party may like to contest in the mini assembly election of sorts to be held for 10 assembly seats in coming months.

The Congress and the Samajwadi Party, which contested 2024 Lok Sabha election as partners of the INDIA bloc, will contest the by-poll in alliance with each other.

“We will sit together this week and discuss which seats will be right for the Congress to contest in the by-election. The Congress and the SP will contest the by-poll in alliance with each other,” said Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Ajay Rai on Wednesday.

Rai did not give any specific number but senior Congress leaders said the party should stake claim on at least three assembly seats. A meeting of senior party leaders, including sitting MPs, has been convened on Friday and a discussion on the issue may be held . “Out of these 10 seats, five have been with the Samajwadi Party while the remaining five have been with the BJP (including those held by the RLD and the NISHAD Party) We should get at least three assembly seats to contest in the by-election,” said a senior Congress leader.

Uttar Pradesh assembly declared these 10 seats vacant between June 7 to 18 and the Election Commission of India will hold the by-elections there within a period of six months from the date of vacancy. The ECI may hold the by-elections there along with the elections to assemblies of Haryana and Maharashtra later this year. Ten assembly seats set to go to by-poll include, Katehri (Ambedkara Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhwa (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur Nagar), Khair (Aligarh), Phoolpur (Prayagraj) and Kundarki (Moradabad).

Out of these, Katehri (Ambedkar Nagar) has fallen vacant following the election of Samajwadi Party’s Lalji Verma to Lok Sabha from Ambedkar Nagar Lok Sabha seat. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav resigned Karhal (Mainpuri) seat as he got elected to Lok Sabha from Kannauj. SP leader Awadhesh Prasad’s election to Lok Sabha from Faizabad (Ayodhya) led to his resignation from Milkipur (Ayodhya) seat. Chandan Chauhan of Rashtriya Lok Dal resigned from his Meerapur assembly seat of Muzaffarnagar following his election to Lok Sabha from Bijnor. BJP’s Atul Garg resigned from Ghaziabad assembly seat following his election to Lok Sabha from Ghaziabad. BJP’s Vinod Kumar Bind ( from NISHAD Party) resigned from his Majhwa assembly seat of Mirzapur following his election to Lok Sabha from Bhadohi.

Samajwadi Party’s Hazi Irfan Solanki’s Sisamau assembly seat in Kanpur Nagar has been declared vacant following his disqualification in view of his seven-year imprisonment by MP/MLA court. Anoop Singh alias Anoop Pradhan Balmiki of BJP has resigned from his Khair assembly seat of Aligarh following his election from Hathras Lok Sabha seat. BJP’s Praveen Patel has resigned from Phoolpur assembly seat of Prayagraj following his election to Lok Sabha from Phoolpur Lok Sabha seat. Samajwadi Party leader Zia-ur Rehman’s Kundarki assembly seat in Moradabad has fallen vacant following his election to Lok Sabha from Sambhal.