Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said that while the Samajwadi Party had already announced candidates for six Assembly by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, he would pick the nominees for the remaining four seats in consultation with the Congress.

The Samajwadis had named the six candidates on October 9, a day after the Haryana poll results unexpectedly went against the Congress amid accusations from INDIA partners that the Grand Old Party was sunk by its “arrogance” in refusing a seat arrangement with allies.

By-elections to 10 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh are expected by December.

“Yes, we announced six candidates,” Akhilesh told reporters on Monday while looking away from the cameras.

He then smiled, looked into the cameras and said: “We will finalise the remaining four candidates in consultation with the Congress.”

State Congress president Ajay Rai was evasive when asked to comment on Akhilesh’s statement.

“We have an alliance but everything is supposed to be decided by our central leadership,” he said before walking away.

The Congress and the Samajwadis had contested the April-June general election in alliance across the state’s 80 parliamentary seats. While the Congress contested 17 seats and won 6, the Samajwadis contested the remaining 63 and won 37.

“The SP is a regional party but believes that the message from the (general election) result is that it’s capable of winning on its own (in Uttar Pradesh). But the fact remains that the people voted for it because it was an ally of the Congress, a national party that is an alternative to the BJP, another national party,” a Congress leader said, asking not to be quoted.

A Samajwadi leader, also seeking anonymity, said: “Voter behaviour is different in parliamentary and Assembly elections. The regional parties have proved that they need no big brothers in the states.”

Akhilesh had a few days ago made it clear that the Congress could not hope to haggle with the Samajwadis over seats, saying: “We are the biggest party in Uttar Pradesh and we are in a situation (where we can) defeat the BJP in the state.”

The six Samajwadi candidates include Akhilesh’s nephew Tej Pratap Singh. He has been fielded from Karhal, a seat in Mainpuri district that has fallen vacant since Akhilesh resigned as MLA after being elected MP from Kannauj.

Ajit Prasad, son of Awadhesh Prasad — who defeated the BJP from Faizabad (Ayodhya) in the general election — has been fielded from Milkipur, which fell vacant when Awadhesh shifted to Parliament.

Naseem Solanki, wife of jailed and disqualified Samajwadi MLA Irfan Solanki, will contest from her husband’s Sishamau seat in Kanpurdistrict.

Jyoti Bind is Samajwadi candidate from Majhwan. She is the daughter of Ramesh Bind, who was elected MP from Bhadohi in 2019 on a BJP ticket before being denied re-nomination in 2024.

Shobhawati Verma is contesting from Katehari in Ambedkar Nagar district. She is the wife of Lalaji Verma, who resigned as Katehari MLA after being elected MP from Ambedkar Nagar on a Samajwadi ticket.

Mustafa Siddiqui, former MLA from Pratappur in Bhadohi district, is contesting from Phulpur.

“We wanted to contest from the Phulpur seat but the Samajwadis announced their nominee deliberately,” the senior Congress leader said.

“The problem with us is that our leader Rahul Gandhi doesn’t take anything seriously on the ground. Naturally, he wouldn’t talk to the Samajwadi leader and would accept whatever is offered to theCongress.”

The remaining poll-bound seats are Ghaziabad, Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Khair (Aligarh) and Kundarki(Moradabad).