'INDIA bloc will remain': Akhilesh confirms Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance for 2027 UP polls

Rewari:

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has confirmed that the INDIA bloc remains united and his party will contest the next year's assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in an alliance with the Congress. Akhilesh was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a wedding ceremony in Haryana's Rewari on Sunday.

"INDIA bloc will remain, we will have Congress with us," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said. "With us, the issue is not about the number of seats; it's about winnability. Those who can win will get the ticket."

The Samajwadi Party and the Congress had contested the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections in an alliance, but the polls were swept by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In the 2022 assembly polls, which were won by the BJP again, they had contested separately.

The two contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as part of the INDIA bloc where they were able to stop the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, which sends the most MPs to the lower House. Out of the state's 80 seats, the alliance won 43 constituencies: the Samajwadi Party 37 and the Congress six. 

Akhilesh attacks BJP over women's reservation

Earlier in the day, the Samajwadi Party supremo also slammed the saffron party over the constitutional amendment bill which failed to clear the Lok Sabha during the three-day special sitting last week. Speaking to reporters at party headquarters in Lucknow, Akhilesh said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has no right to remain in power at the Centre as the bill failed in the lower House.

The women's reservation law cannot be discussed until the 16th census is completed, Akhilesh said, adding that the opposition represents the people's will in the country.

"If 2011 Census figures are used, the very ground for women's reservation will become incorrect. Our message to the government was that until a fresh census is conducted, women's reservation should not be discussed," Akhilesh, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Kannauj, said.

The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 was defeated in the Lower House on Friday. The bill proposed to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.