LUCKNOW, Oct. 10 -- Announcing the names of five candidates out of the 11 for the 2026 MLC polls in the state, Uttar Pradesh Congress president on Friday said the party will contest the Vidhan Parishad elections independently.

"The party will contest the polls for teacher and graduate constituencies on its own. Since this is not a symbol-based election, there is no question of an alliance. We are taking these polls as a challenge," he said while replying to a query if the Congress would contest the polls in alliance with the Samajwadi Party like it did during the last general election.

"The party has fielded Sanjay Priyadarshi from the Varanasi teacher constituency and Arvind Singh Patel from the graduate constituency. Similarly, Devman...