Lal Bihari Yadav secured the Varanasi Teachers’ seat
LUCKNOW: BJP retained four Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council seats, including both constituencies in Meerut, the Bareilly-Moradabad Teachers’ seat and the Lucknow Teachers’ seat, while the Samajwadi Party secured victories in the Varanasi and Agra Teachers’ constituencies as counting for 11 MLC seats continued. In the Meerut-Saharanpur Graduates’ constituency, BJP’s sitting MLC Dinesh Goyal retained his seat, defeating SP candidate Pramod Singh Bhati by 12,855 votes. BJP’s Shrichand Sharma also retained the Meerut Teachers’ constituency, defeating SP candidate Nitin Tomar by 13,241 votes. Meanwhile, SP’s sitting MLC Lal Bihari Yadav retained the Varanasi Teachers’ constituency, defeating BJP candidate Pramod Mishra by approximately 4,900 votes.
BJP’s Hari Singh Dhillon retained the Bareilly-Moradabad Teachers’ constituency, defeating SP candidate Haji Mohammad Danish Akhtar. In another victory for the BJP, sitting MLC Umesh Dwivedi retained the Lucknow Teachers’ constituency, defeating SP candidate Sushil Kumar (Baba). UP BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary congratulated Dwivedi on his victory in a post on X on Wednesday morning, expressing confidence that he would continue working for the development of the education sector.
Agrawal had won the same seat as an Independent in 2020. In the Gorakhpur-Faizabad Teachers’ constituency, BJP’s Dhruv Tripathi was leading by a narrow margin of 110 votes in the last available update, with Independent candidate Rajeev Yadav and SP candidate Sanjayan also in contention. Earlier reporting noted: UP MLC polls: BJP retains three seats, leads on four, SP wins in Varanasi, ahead in Agra The keenly contested elections to 11 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council graduate and teachers’ constituency seats showed an early edge for the ruling BJP, which retained three seats and led on four, while the Samajwadi Party won one and was ahead on another as counting progressed on Tuesday. Earlier reporting noted: The elections have assumed significance ahead of the 2027 UP assembly polls, with both parties seeking to strengthen their position in the 100-member Upper House. In the 2020 elections, the BJP had won six seats, the SP three, while two went to independents. Earlier reporting noted: Counting began at 8 am at centres in seven districts, including Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Jhansi, Bareilly and Gorakhpur.
In the Agra Teachers’ constituency, SP candidate Akash Agrawal emerged victorious, defeating BJP candidate Hari Kishore Tiwari. His latest victory means he has retained the constituency, this time as an SP candidate. The process was slow as ballot papers were sorted and bundled before counting under the single transferable vote system.
A clear picture of the outcome is expected on Wednesday when the Election Commission is likely to announce the result.