The results of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections for graduate and teachers’ constituencies come as a shot in the arm for the principal opposition, the Samajwadi Party. Contested entirely on ballot papers and largely confined to the urban and educated class, the polls saw the SP win four seats and it was poised to win another.
Party leaders are already viewing the outcome as a precursor to the likely verdict in the high-stakes 2027 assembly elections. It wrested the Lucknow graduate seat where Kanti Singh won and the Agra teachers’ (Akash Agarwal) seat. Even after all this, the SP won more seats and got more votes in comparison to the last elections. The SP national president also announced that the party would organise public felicitation for all winning candidates.
In the meantime, he asked elected MLCs to prepare lists of workers, office bearers and well-wishers who contributed to their success so that they too could be honoured. The government machinery was misused. The SP leader further stated, “This election proved that elections fought on ballot papers give real results in comparison to EVMs, where thousands of votes can be manipulated with one click. In his first public response to the results, Yadav struck a note of caution. He urged supporters to share the victories peacefully through social media rather than organising processions or large celebrations.
The SP was leading in the Varanasi graduate seat (Ashutosh Sinha) Speaking on the Samajwadi Party’s win, senior SP leader and former MLC Udaiveer Singh said, “This election involved a limited and identified electorate. “At a time when there are allegations against the Election Commission of bias, transparency and public trust are needed,” Udaiveer Singh said. He said any such gatherings could be infiltrated or exploited by political opponents to create disturbances and level false accusations of disruption against the SP. Where possible, he said, he would visit their areas for the programmes.
The Samajwadi Party retained two of its earlier seats: Varanasi teacher seat (Lal Bihari Yadav) and Allahabad-Jhansi graduate seat (Man Singh Yadav). Samajwadi Party national president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday congratulated party candidates and workers.
