INDI Alliance No More? Samajwadi Party Declares Six Candidates For Uttar Pradesh By-Polls Without Discussing With Congress

The Samajwadi Party (SP) declared six candidates for the Uttar Pradesh assembly by-polls, which are yet to be announced by the Election Commission for the 10 vacant seats.

This appears to be a jolt for SP ally Congress, which has been eyeing contesting five of the 10 seats under the INDI Alliance, a day after a setback in the Haryana assembly elections.

Of the six seats, where candidates have been announced, Congress wanted to contest Phulpur and Majhawan in the Mirzapur district.

Phulpur had a BJP MLA, who won the Lok Sabha election from Phulpur, while Majhawan had an MLA from the BJP-ally NISHAD party, who won the Lok Sabha election on the BJP ticket from Bhadohi.

The SP has declared former MLA Mustafa Siddiqui as the candidate from Phulpur. He had lost here in 2022 by a narrow margin of 2,700 votes.

In Majhawan, the daughter of former MP Ramesh Bind, Dr Jyoti Bind, has been fielded. Ramesh had lost the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Mirzapur on the SP ticket.

Four of the SP candidates are relatives of former MLAs on the respective seats. As SP national president Akhilesh Yadav vacated the Karhal seat, his nephew Tej Pratap Yadav has been fielded there.

Similarly, the son of Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad, Ajit Prasad has been fielded in Milkipur in Ayodhya district. Wives of former MLAs have been given tickets in Katehari and Sisamau.

Naseem Solanki has been fielded in Kanpur's Sisamau as her husband Irfan Solanki vacated the seat on being convicted in a case.

Shobhavati Verma has been fielded in Katehari as her husband Lalji Verma won the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Ambedkar Nagar.

The Congress was taken by surprise at this announcement. However, UP Congress president Ajay Rai said that the central leadership will take the final call.

UP Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey said that they had no information about candidates as there has been no discussion with the coordination committee of the INDI Alliance yet.