The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Tuesday welcomed INDIA bloc partner Congress’s MP Rahul Gandhi retaining Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli Lok Sabha seat and vacating Kerala’s Wayanad after winning both in the recent general elections, stating that the step would further strengthen the grand old party’s hold on the politics of UP. Some SP leaders also called it a calculated move ahead of the 2027 UP assembly polls.
“Indeed, it’s a big political development. We welcome Congress’s decision. It’s after a long time that the Congress managed to mark its presence in UP. The presence of Rahul Gandhi would surely help the party in the upcoming 2027 state assembly elections,” Rajendra Chaudhary, chief spokesperson of the Samajwadi Party, told News18.
The Congress announced on Monday that Rahul will retain Raebareli, the constituency long associated with the Gandhi-Nehru family, and vacate Wayanad. The Congress leader registered thumping victories from both seats by margins of over three lakh votes. The party also announced that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would make her electoral debut from Wayanad.
Chaudhary recently announced that the SP-Congress alliance would continue in the bypolls expected to be held on some assembly seats to be vacated by MLAs who contested and won the Lok Sabha elections. He was a little reluctant though to comment on the fate of the coalition for the 2027 assembly elections. However, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and several other leaders have spoken out favourably for the alliance.
“INDIA bloc will stay together. Long live INDIA bloc,” Akhilesh said during the alliance’s meeting in New Delhi after the Lok Sabha poll results came out on June 4. The SP-Congress combine under the bloc tasted unprecedented success in UP, surpassing both the BJP and the NDA tallies for the first time. Of the 80 UP Lok Sabha seats, the Samajwadi Party alone bagged 37 and the Congress six, adding up to 43 for the INDIA front, while the BJP bagged 33 and allies three more, making it 36 for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
In a post on social media site X, Akhilesh said, “The symbol of public aspiration, the INDIA bloc, will stay firm on its commitment towards public service, will stay united, and will continue to be committed towards the Constitution, democracy, reservation, honour, dignity, and pride of the people, towards eradicating unemployment, price rise, corruption.”
Senior SP leader Shivpal Yadav, while campaigning for his son Aditya who contested from the Badaun Lok Sabha constituency, had said the Akhilesh Yadav-Rahul Gandhi combo was a hit in UP this time. The SP-Congress alliance will continue in UP even in the 2027 assembly polls, said Shivpal, Akhilesh’s uncle. Aditya won Badaun by securing 5,01,390 votes.
The Congress too has confirmed that the alliance will remain in the bypolls, seen as semi-finals to the assembly elections. “The alliance will continue. We will be in play in the forthcoming bypolls also. And there will be seat-sharing discussions,” confirmed UP Congress president Ajay Rai.
Once the vacancies are confirmed, the Election Commission will announce the bypoll dates. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has resigned from his Karhal assembly constituency to retain the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat. Other vacant seats include Khair (Aligarh), Kundarki (Moradabad), Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Phulpur (Prayagraj), Ghaziabad (Ghaziabad), Majhawan (Mirzapur), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), and Milkipur (Ayodhya).
While the Congress and SP are yet to announce their alliance for the assembly polls, given the warmth between the leaders and the seamless coordination between the cadres of the two parties, political analysts say that the pact is likely to continue.
“SP-Congress alliance this time marks a significant shift from past attempts. Their alliance in the 2017 UP assembly elections collapsed after a disappointing performance, with the SP winning only 47 seats and the Congress just seven. Similarly, the SP’s alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls fell apart after poor results, where SP won 5 seats and BSP 10. However, the SP-Congress alliance under the INDIA bloc in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls turned out to be a big hit. Not only did SP emerge to be the country’s third largest party, but the Congress too gave its best performance. Going by the durability of this alliance and the hints from the SP and Congress leaders, it is certain that the alliance would continue in the 2027 assembly elections too,” said Shashikant Pandey, head of the department of political science, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow.
