Lucknow, Sept. 21 -- The Samajwadi Party and the Congress have announced that they will contest the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections together as allies.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has said on several occasions that his party will contest the election in alliance with the Congress.

The Congress's top leadership also maintained that the alliance remains in place. However, the two parties have yet to settle the details of how the 403 Assembly seats will be divided.

According to the sources, the Congress wants the seat-sharing arrangement to be finalised early so that it can identify its constituencies and candidates well ahead of the election.

The party has also indicated that it wants a larger role in deciding the seats it will contest. The Congress claims that even if it goes into an alliance with Akhilesh Yadav, it will do so on its own terms.

In July, Uttar Pradesh Congress in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam had spoken of an arrangement based on equality and respect.

Meanwhile, the SP is clear about its preparations to contest all 403 Assembly seats if the alliance runs into a problem.

Congress leader and the party's prominent Muslim face Imran Masood wants the number of seats and the names of the constituencies to be finalised by October.

Masood affirmed that any delay in the alliance would cause the Congress to lose its advantage.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has already ruled out any alliance with either the Congress or the Samajwadi Party.

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has been showing interest to Samajwadi Party for an alliance. Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan of the Azad Samaj Party is also open to an alliance,

but has so far refused to reveal whether his party will join one.

Till now, both the SP and Congress are continuing their organisational preparations in Uttar Pradesh leaving the issue aside that how and when the two parties will formally settle their seat-sharing arrangement.

Meanwhile, reviving a discussion dating back nearly two decades on the division of Uttar Pradesh, minister and SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar said the nation's most populous state will be divided into four parts after a caste census.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.