"Talks with Congress going on seat sharing in UP": SP chief Akhilesh Yadav

Mainpuri (Uttar Pradesh) [India], October 21 (ANI): Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said that talks are underway between the SP and Congress regarding seat sharing for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh bypolls to be held on November 13.
He further emphasised that the Karhal Assembly constituency has always been a stronghold for the Samajwadi Party expressing confidence that the people of Karhal will give "historic results".
"Karhal Assembly constituency has been our stronghold and this time as well, the people of Karhal will give historic results," he told ANI.
SP candidate from the Karhal Assembly seat, Tej Pratap Singh Yadav filed his nomination for the Assembly by-elections.
The by-poll was necessitated in the Karhal constituency following Akhilesh Yadav's resignation after being elected from Kannauj as MP.
Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav expressed confidence in winning the Karhal bye-election and said, "Samajwadi party will win big in Karhal by-elections... The party and workers and fully prepared and seeing the Lok Sabha election results, we are all very positive about the by-election results. Our strategy will remain the same."
SP candidate Tej Pratap Yadav said, "BJP is yet to find a candidate. The public has made up their mind. They are with the Samajwadi Party. Samajwadi Party will win this seat by a big margin."
Meanwhile, speaking about the Maharashtra Assembly polls, Akhilesh said that they will claim only those seats where they have a strong organisation.
"In Maharashtra, we have decided that we will claim only those seats where we have a strong organisation... We have certain parameters for asking for our share of tickets. Our state president has decided on candidates for 12 seats. We hope we will be given seats and we will contest elections... Talks with Congress are going on seat sharing in UP," he said.
The SP chief further slammed the BJP over the Bahraich incident, saying that, "the incident was planned the BJP given the upcoming elections in the state."
The Uttar Pradesh bypolls are slated to be held on nine Assembly seats including Meerapur, Kundarki, Ghaziabad, Khair, Karhal, Phulpur, and Katehari.
While polling will take place on November 13, counting of votes is scheduled for November 23, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Tuesday.
The poll body has announced bypolls for nine of the 10 vacant assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, except Milkipur of Ayodhya district.
The Election Commission has kept the polling for the Milkipur seat in Ayodhya in abeyance due to the pending election petition, Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad said on Wednesday that the seat has become very important as it is connected to Akhilesh Yadav and Ayodhya.
The bypolls are spread over 15 states - Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. (ANI)