Meanwhile, the seat-sharing negotiations hit a deadlock on Wednesday when SP candidate Mujtaba Siddiqui filed his nomination papers for Phulpur, a seat sought by Congress, which had been led to believe that SP would reserve it for its ally.Both Congress and SP leaders had claimed that negotiations over seat distribution were ongoing for several days. However, Siddiqui’s nomination effectively ended Congress’s chances of contesting.Notably, the SP had already announced candidates for seven of the nine assembly seats going to vote on November 13, leaving only Khair and Ghaziabad Cantt for Congress.However, the Congress party expressed reluctance to contest these two seats, as they are considered traditional strongholds of the ruling BJP, where the grand old party stands little chance of victory.Initially, Congress demanded five seats—Phulpur, Meerapur, Sisamau, Majhawan, plus one more—but Yadav ignored these requests and announced candidates for all those seats. Sources within Congress claimed that the party was willing to settle for just two seats but sought Phulpur and Majhawan instead of Khair and Ghaziabad.Both Phulpur and Majhawan were won by the BJP in the 2022 state polls and have since become vacant, as the sitting MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha. Political analysts suggest that Yadav strategically left the Khair and Ghaziabad seats for Congress, ensuring SP retained control over its key constituencies.In the wake of the SP’s announcement, Congress found itself in a difficult position, repeatedly emphasising its commitment to defeating the BJP.State Congress leaders maintained that they were adhering to the principles of alliance and were prepared to support SP candidates across all seats without contesting any themselves.The Election Commission has released the bypoll schedule for the nine seats, with Milkipur excluded due to an ongoing legal dispute.
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