SP says it will contest M.P. election in alliance with Congress

INDIA alliance of SP & Congress agree seat-sharing for MP Assembly elections. SP confident of forming govt. under Congress. SP to contest some seats, exact numbers to be known soon. SP has presence in MP, won 7 seats in 2003, 4 in 1998 & 1 in 2008 & 2018. SP chief met M.P. unit leaders & addressed rallies, wanting to ally with Congress to defeat BJP. Polls on Nov 17.

The Samajwadi Party and the Congress, both members of the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), have worked out a seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh. On Sunday, SP leaders expressed confidence that an INDIA bloc government led by the Congress would be formed in the State.

“We will fight together under the INDIA alliance; there will be no division of votes. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) succeeds only when there is division. Our leaders are in touch with [the Congress] and things have been sorted out with regards to seat sharing,” said SP spokesperson Sunil Singh Yadav, known to be a close confidant of SP president Akhilesh Yadav.

Asked how many seats the SP would be contest in MP, Mr. Singh replied, “We will fight in some seats, you would come to know about the exact numbers in the coming days.”

Political circles are abuzz with rumours that the SP has been demanding at least nine seats out of the 230 seats in the State Assembly. Though it won only a single seat in the last election in 2018, it had come in second in six seats. The SP has some presence in the parts of M.P. that are adjacent to Uttar Pradesh, and had won seven seats in the 2003 M.P. Vidhan Sabha election, four seats in the 1998 Vidhan Sabha election, and one seat each in the 2008 and 2018 Assembly polls.

Earlier in the week, SP chief Mr. Yadav met the party’s M.P. State unit leaders in Lucknow and visited M.P. as well, taking feedback from the ground. He addressed campaign rallies for the party, saying that the SP wanted to ally with the Congress and together defeat the BJP.

Madhya Pradesh will go to the polls on November 17, in a single phase of voting to elect all 230 members of the State’s Legislative Assembly.