Congress drops out of UP Legislative Council polls to focus on 2027 assembly elections

The Congress party has decided not to field candidates in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections, choosing instead to focus its resources on the 2027 Assembly polls.

Candidate Withdrawals

Voting takes place on October 23 across 11 Graduate and Teachers' constituencies, including five Graduates' seats in Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, and Allahabad-Jhansi, and six Teachers' seats in Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Bareilly-Moradabad, and Gorakhpur-Faizabad. The decision comes after the nomination process concluded, though the party had spent a year preparing, appointing observers, setting up a control room, and working on voter lists. With the Congress staying out, the race is mainly between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party alongside independents. Several aspirants who prepared for the Congress ticket are now running as independents, such as Arvind Singh Patel in the Varanasi Graduate constituency, who filed his nomination on October 5 with local party leaders accompanying him. Across all 11 seats, nominations reached 188 candidates by the October 6 deadline. Scrutiny took place on October 7, and October 9 is the final date to withdraw.

Context

Legislative Council elections in these specific constituencies are restricted to registered graduates and teachers rather than the general public. While candidates do not run on formal party symbols, winning contenders are counted toward the political strength of their backing parties. The 100-member Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council currently holds a strong majority for the BJP-led alliance with 83 members, while the Samajwadi Party holds 10 members.