By Admin 
The Indian National Congress has decided to contest the Panchayat elections 2026 alone in Uttar Pradesh. However, party sources say that this decision will not break its friendship with the Samajwadi Party. Referring to the municipal elections in Maharashtra, the source said that the way the three parties of Mahayuti are contesting the elections separately, the same can happen here also.
According to sources, Congress is going to contest the upcoming Panchayat elections alone because it has to prepare its ground for the 2027 elections. The party believes that only when it will contest the 2026 Panchayat elections alone, work will be done on strengthening its support base as well as the organization.
Congress is trying to prepare for the Assembly by contesting elections alone in all the Nagar Panchayats including 75 District Panchayats. The party can give tickets to the candidates who perform well in the 2027 elections.
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What did Ajay Rai say?
In this regard, Congress State President Ajay Rai, while talking to ABP Live, said about the Panchayat elections that – Congress Party will contest the UP Panchayat elections alone and on the basis of this Panchayat election results, Congress Party workers will be provided tickets in the upcoming 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Now the question is whether the friendship will break? Ajay Rai gave a measured response regarding this also. On the question of alliance, Ajay Rai clarified that this is the work of the national leadership. We are currently working on creating an organization in 403 assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh. We are busy preparing for 403 assembly seats, but the decision on alliance has to be taken by the national leadership.
Let us tell you that in the 2022 assembly elections, Congress had contested on 399 seats and got 2 seats in its account. The party’s deposits were forfeited on 387 seats. The party got a total of 2.33% votes. Now, by going alone in the Panchayat elections, Congress is trying to get an idea from the ground.
Congress also has this plan in UP!
According to experts, the plan of Congress, which is preparing for 403 seats, is that if the party performs well in the Panchayat elections, then it can put pressure on the Samajwadi Party for more and more seats. Congress had contested elections with SP in the year 2017, although this experience was not good for both.
Whereas in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the results for Congress and SP were pleasant in all respects and both the alliances were successful in preventing BJP from reaching the majority figure at the Center by winning 43 seats.