Two months before the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly election, the Congress opened talks on an alliance with the ruling Samajwadi Party, and set its price high.

What the Congress wanted

In December 2016, reports citing senior Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee leaders said the party would not settle for fewer than 100 to 125 of the state’s 403 seats, and wanted its traditional strongholds among them. Its leaders had been in touch with Shivpal Singh Yadav, then the Samajwadi Party’s state chief. The talks came while the Samajwadi Party itself was split between Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal, and the Congress let it be known that, if the party broke, it would side with Akhilesh. An alliance would also be awkward for the Congress, which had already named former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as its chief ministerial candidate.

What happened next

The feud was settled in Akhilesh Yadav’s favour: he took over as Samajwadi Party president on 1 January 2017, and the Election Commission later allotted his faction the party’s bicycle symbol. The alliance was announced on 22 January 2017, with the Congress contesting about 105 seats, short of its opening demand, and the Samajwadi Party the rest. Sheila Dikshit withdrew as chief ministerial candidate.

The partnership failed. In results declared on 11 March 2017, the BJP won 312 seats; the Samajwadi Party won 47 and the Congress 7. Yogi Adityanath became Chief Minister.

See also: every Uttar Pradesh constituency and the current Uttar Pradesh MLAs.

Originally published on 12 December 2016. Rewritten on 9 October 2026, with the background and what happened next added.

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