Lok Sabha polls 2019: Congress to focus on 26 out of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 seats

The Indian National Congress (INC) is focusing on winning 26 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming elections.

While the party will contest all 80 seats in the state, it is taking a target-oriented approach where its organisational structure has weakened over time, according to a report in The Times of India.

Besides its bastions of Amethi (held by Congress President Rahul Gandhi) and Rae Bareli (held by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi), the party is set to focus on the seats it had won in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. In 2014, Congress had won just the two seats.

However, in 2009, Congress had won 21 seats in the state.

In 2014, Congress had finished second in six seats — Ghaziabad, Saharanpur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Barabanki and Kushi Nagar. Congress had lost Saharanpur by a margin of less than 10 percent.

Congress has been forced to contest the general elections alone after the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) kept it out of their pre-poll alliance.

In January, Member of Parliament (MP) Jyotiraditya Scindia and Rahul Gandhi’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were appointed the All India Congress Committee (AICC)’s General Secretaries for Uttar Pradesh West and East, respectively.

Priyanka has 41 Lok Sabha constituencies under her charge while 39 parliamentary segments will be taken care of by Scindia.

Among key constituencies placed under Priyanka's charge include Lucknow, Amethi, Rae Bareli, Sultanpur, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Phulpur, Allahabad, Barabanki and Kushi Nagar.

Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Pilibhit, Dhaurahra, Kanpur and Farrukhabad are some of the key constituencies placed under Scindia's charge.

On February 18, Priyanka told party workers from Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand region that they should not expect a "miracle" from her and the party's performance depends on its booth-level organisation.

Both Scindia and Priyanka have held marathon meetings with senior leaders and party cadre.