LUCKNOW, July 31 -- As the successful Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance of the 2024 Lok Sabha election looks certain to continue in the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the focus has shifted to possible seat-sharing formulas between the two INDIA bloc partners.

Looking to drive a hard bargain, the Congress is aiming to secure more seats than in the previous arrangements, where it accepted fewer seats from the Samajwadi Party (SP), the dominant regional player. The SP-Congress alliance had

relegated the BJP to the number two position in the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP's tally of seats was reduced from 62 out of 80 in 2019 to 33 in 2024. The SP won 37 seats and the Congress bagged six out of the 17 seats it contest...