LUCKNOW, Oct. 22 -- Seat-sharing differences may be straining the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, but the electoral arithmetic of 2024 offers both parties a compelling reason to stay together: their combined lead extended to 221 of the state's 403 assembly segments. An analysis of assembly segment-wise leads in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections suggests that if the voting pattern is repeated, the INDIA bloc could pose a formidable challenge to the BJP. The BJP's Lok Sabha tally in Uttar Pradesh fell from 62 seats in 2019 to 33 in 2024, while the SP and Congress together won 43 of the state's 80 seats. The SP won 37 and the Congress six. Nationally, the Congress won 99 seats, emerging as the second-largest party, while the BJP retained its position as the largest party with 240 seats. The assembly segment-wise breakdown shows the SP-Congress alliance leading in more than 220 segments. The Trinamool Congress also led in one segment, taking the combined lead to 221. This was not the first time the SP and Congress had joined hands. The two parties contested the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections as alliance partners, but the arrangement failed to deliver the results they would have expected. The SP won 47 of the 311 seats it contested, securing 21.82% of the total valid votes. Its vote share in the seats it contested as the Congress's alliance partner was 28.32%. The Congress contested 114 seats and won seven, securing 6.25% of the total valid votes and 22.09% of the votes polled in the seats it contested. Despite the alliance, candidates from both parties faced each other in some constituencies. The Congress had earlier allied with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for the 1996 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, when the state was undivided. The Congress won 33 of the 126 seats it contested in the 425-member assembly, while the BSP won 67 of the 296 seats it contested. The Congress secured 8.35% of the total valid votes and 29.13% of the votes polled in the seats it contested. The BSP received 19.64% of the total valid votes and 27.73% of the votes polled in the seats it contested. The Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance too had failed to work in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The SP won five seats with 18.11% of the total valid votes, while the BSP won 10 seats with 19.43%. Will the Congress and the SP eventually reach a seat-sharing agreement? "An alliance is very important for the Congress and the Samajwadi Party if they want to defeat the BJP. If the SP and the Congress decide to come together, they may pose a serious challenge to the BJP. Both parties may initially have differences over seat-sharing, but they will eventually realise its importance and come together if the prevailing political situation is taken into account," said professor SK Dwivedi, former head of the political science department at Lucknow University. UP Congress president Aradhana Mishra 'Mona' said the INDIA bloc would perform better in the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections than it did in the state in 2024. "We hope the central leadership of the two parties will soon reach a seat-sharing understanding. We are sure whatever decision is taken on the seat-sharing issue will be in accordance with the honour and feelings of the Congress and its workers," said Mishra. Samajwadi Party chief spokesman and former minister Rajendra Chaudhary said both the parties were yet to begin talks for seat sharing. He said Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had already made it clear that the winnability of candidates, and not the number of seats, would be the main criteria for seat-sharing....