Samajwadi Party on Thursday announced its candidates for the two remaining seats-- Ghaziabad and Khair. This comes after SP chief Akhilesh Yadav announced that INDIA bloc candidates will contest on all nine seats in the Uttar Pradesh bypolls under the party's 'cycle' symbol.
According to SP's list, Raj Jatav will contest from Ghaziabad, while Charu Kain has been fielded from Khair. These seats were given to the Congress to contest UP bypolls.
"Congress and Samajwadi Party are united and stand shoulder to shoulder for a big victory. INDIA bloc is going to write a new chapter of victory in this by-election," Yadav said in a post on X.
"With this unprecedented cooperation and support, every worker of 'INDIA bloc' on all 9 assembly seats is filled with new energy with the resolve to win," he added.
Initially, the grand old party had demanded five seats from the SP, but the latter went ahead and announced a list of seven candidates.
This left the Congress red-faced, with the UP unit chief Ajay Rai asking the SP to adhere to coalition dharma. However, the Congress agreed to contest the polls in alliance with the SP, settling for two seats.
Thereafter, it posed a fresh demand of getting the Phulpur seat from where the SP had already announced its candidate. While the talks were underway on this matter, SP's candidate Mujtaba Siddiqui filed his nomination papers, dashing Congress's hopes for the third seat.
Following this development, Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday announced that the INDIA bloc candidates will contest all nine seats in the upcoming bypolls on his party's election symbol 'cycle. He also said that the alliance's decision was not based on any seat-sharingmath but was taken in ts pursuit of victory.
Bypolls will be held on November 13 on nine seats- Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sishamau (Kanpur city), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj), and Kundarki (Moradabad).
The last date for filing nominations is October 25. The UP Bypolls will be held on November 13, while the counting of votes will take place on November 23.