Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): Congress and Samajwadi Party on Wednesday announced a seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
Apart from its traditional strongholds of Rae Bareli and Amethi, the Congress will also contest Varanasi, Ghaziabad and Kanpur.

The formal announcement of the alliance between the two India bloc parties, under which Congress will contest 17 seats and the Samajwadi Party the remaining 63 seats in electorally crucial state, was announced at a joint press conference.

It was addressed by SP state chief Naresh Uttam Patel and Congress leaders Ajay Rai and Avinash Pande.

Patel thanked SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for the success of the seat-sharing talks between the two parties.

He said that Congress will contest Raebareli, Amethi, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Kanpur and 12 other seats.

He also said that SP will contest one seat--Khajuraho - in Madhya Pradesh and support Congress on the rest of the seats in the state in the general elections expected to be held in April-May.

Samajwadi Party leaders said that they were in favour of the alliance from the beginning.

The success of the seat-sharing pact is a boost for Congress which has faced hiccups on seat-sharing with Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.

While Trinamool Congress has said it will contest Lok Sabha polls on its own in West Bengal, AAP has announced it will go alone in Punjab. AAP and Congress are in talks to seal a seat-sharing pact in Delhi.