Samajwadi Party and Congress have finally announced their seat-sharing deal in Uttar Pradesh as part of the INDIA bloc. Congress will contest 17 seats while the remaining 63 will go to Samajwadi Party and other allies. The announcement comes after weeks of uncertainty over the SP-Congress tie-up, which had risked fallout between the members of the INDIA bloc. The seat pact is expected to bolster the opposition alliance which was termed dead on arrival by BJP after it failed to progress seat-sharing talks and later saw high-profile exits including Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s JDU and RLD – a regional but influential party in Western Uttar Pradesh's Jat-dominated areas.
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