BJP wins five seats and Samajwadi Party takes three in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections

The Bharatiya Janata Party has won five seats while the Samajwadi Party secured three in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections, with vote counting still underway for the remaining constituencies.

Election Results

In the Allahabad-Jhansi Graduates' constituency, Samajwadi Party candidate Mansingh Yadav won the seat. The BJP secured the Agra Graduates' constituency through Manvendra Pratap Singh, also known as Guruji. The BJP kept the Bareilly-Moradabad Teachers' seat after its candidate Hari Singh Dhillon beat SP nominee Danish Akhtar by 17,676 votes. Mr. Dhillon received 21,672 votes, while Mr. Akhtar got 3,996. The BJP also won the Lucknow Teachers' constituency, where Umesh Dwivedi defeated Sushil Kumar of the SP by 6,992 votes. In Meerut, BJP candidates Dinesh Kumar Goyal and Shri Chand Sharma won the Graduates' and Teachers' constituencies respectively. Meanwhile, the Varanasi Teachers' constituency went to the Samajwadi Party candidate Lal Bihari Yadav, and Akash Agrawal of the SP won the Agra-Aligarh Teachers' constituency against BJP nominee Hari Kishore Tiwari.

Disputes And Allegations

In the Gorakhpur-Faizabad division Teachers' constituency, BJP candidate Dhruv Kumar Tripathi led by 466 votes over Independent candidate Rajiv Yadav. Mr. Tripathi secured 11,881 votes, while Rajiv Yadav received 11,415, and SP candidate Sanjayan Tripathi came third with 8,301 votes. Counting for this seat faced disputes after 52 extra votes appeared in a ballot box in Mau compared to official records. This led to the removal of Ayodhya Additional Commissioner Ajay Saini following a candidate complaint. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav raised concerns over a six-hour delay in declaring the Varanasi result and shared a video of winning Agra candidate Akash Agrawal wearing a torn kurta. Mr. Yadav accused BJP supporters of assaulting Mr. Agrawal and called on the Election Commission, Supreme Court, and President to step in.

Context

These Legislative Council polls involve five graduate and six teachers' constituencies across Uttar Pradesh, with voting held on October 23 and counting starting on October 27. Political analysts view the election as an important test of strength between the ruling BJP and the opposition Samajwadi Party before the state assembly elections.