A clear picture of the outcome is expected on Wednesday when the Election Commission is likely to announce the result. 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.
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. Counting began at 8 am at centres in seven districts, including Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Jhansi, Bareilly and Gorakhpur. BJP candidate Dr Manvendra Singh secured 5,848 votes in the graduates’ constituency against 5,134 polled by SP candidate Shashank Yadav, leading by 714 votes. Independent candidate Ambrish Pal Singh received 1,374 votes. In the Agra teachers’ constituency, SP candidate Aakash Agarwal led BJP rival Hari Kishore Tiwari by 691 votes after the first round. Agarwal secured 5,550 votes against Tiwari’s 4,858. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Umesh Dwivedi established a substantial lead in the first round in the Lucknow teachers’ constituency, securing 7,189 first-preference votes against 3,537 polled by SP candidate Sushil Kumar. Dwivedi was ahead by 3,652 votes, with counting continuing.
The process was slow as ballot papers were sorted and bundled before counting under the single transferable vote system. The BJP led in the Agra graduates’ constituency, while the SP was ahead in the teachers’ seat after the first round of counting. In the Varanasi division teachers’ constituency, SP candidate Lal Bihari Yadav secured a second consecutive victory. BJP candidate Dr Pramod Mishra finished second.
