With polling for 11 Uttar Pradesh legislative council seats — five graduates’ and six teachers’ constituencies — scheduled for October 23, the BJP has pressed its top leadership into last-mile campaigning to retain its dominance in the Upper House.
The MLC polls, though indirect and limited to graduates and teachers, are politically significant for the BJP ahead of the 2027 assembly elections. Of the 11 outgoing members whose terms end on December 6, six are from the BJP, three from the Samajwadi Party (SP) and two are independents. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, BJP state president Pankaj Chaudhary and Cabinet ministers have fanned out across regions, holding meetings with teachers and graduates to rally support for party candidates. The BJP aims to retain its six seats and make inroads into SP and independent strongholds. The graduates’ constituencies going to polls are Lucknow, Agra, Meerut, Varanasi and Bareilly-Moradabad, while the teachers’ constituencies are Lucknow, Agra, Meerut, Varanasi, Bareilly-Moradabad and the Gorakhpur-Jhansi-Prayagraj zone. He called the SP the “declared enemy of education. The BJP has drawn up a cluster-wise campaign strategy involving teacher chaupals, graduate sammelans, alumni outreach and small-group meetings in degree colleges, aided schools and university departments. Ministers have been assigned responsibilities division-wise.
Earlier on Saturday, Adityanath addressed a meeting of voters in the Lucknow graduate’s and teachers’ constituencies and accused the previous SP and BSP governments of having “neither niti (policy) nor niyat (intention)” and of letting the mafia control organisations, including recruitment commissions. Adityanath urged voters to “ensure outcome favours side of justice”. On Sunday, Maurya campaigned for the BJP candidate in Prayagraj for the Allahabad-Jhansi graduate constituency, while Chaudhary was in Maharajganj campaigning for the Gorakhpur-Faizabad constituency.
