With seat-sharing negotiations with the Samajwadi Party still unresolved, the Congress has started preparing for the upcoming by-elections by appointing observers to all ten assembly constituencies.
The Congress has requested five of these seats from the Samajwadi Party to jointly contest the by-elections, following their recent success in the Lok Sabha elections where both parties achieved significant gains.
According to an official communiqué, Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajai Rai has appointed several observers for the by-elections. Member of Parliament (MP) Kishori Lal Sharma from Amethi will oversee Sisamau, MP Imran Masood from Saharanpur will be responsible for Meerut, MP Rakesh Rathore from Sitapur will handle Kundarki, MP Tanuj Punia from Barabanki will cover Ghaziabad, and MP Ujjwal Raman Singh from Prayagraj will monitor Phulpur.
The only Congress MP yet to be assigned a role is Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli. He will be tasked with overseeing any additional seat preparations.
In addition, state and former legislators have been designated as observers for the remaining seats. MLA Virendra Chaudhary will oversee Majhwan, former MLC Naseemuddin Siddiqui will cover Katehari, former MLA Akhilesh Pratap Singh will handle Milkipur, former MLA Rajkumar Rawat will be responsible for Khair, and Ramnath Sikarwar will oversee Karhal.
This preparation follows the Samajwadi Party’s earlier appointment of observers for six constituencies. As the by-elections draw near, an agreement on seat distribution between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party remains pending.
The Congress has staked a claim to five of the ten seats, arguing that the Samajwadi Party won those seats in the last assembly election and should, therefore, be excluded from the contest on the seats which they lost.
The Congress is advocating for the remaining five seats, with a final decision still awaited from the central committee. Building on the favourable outcome of the recent Lok Sabha elections, the Congress aims to secure at least four of the ten seats.
