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How BJP won the numbers game in UP MLC polls despite Samajwadi Party's strong showing
The Samajwadi Party won five, raising its tally to 12 and retaining its position as the principal opposition and the post of Leader of the Opposition.
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The BJP retained its numerical strength in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council despite a mixed verdict in the elections to 11 Graduate and Teacher constituencies, winning six seats against the Samajwadi Party’s five. With the declaration of results for the Lucknow Graduate and Varanasi Graduate seats on Thursday, both won by the SP, the electoral contest came to an end without altering the ruling NDA’s overall tally in the 100-member Upper House.
The results were declared by UP chief electoral officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa.
The BJP continues to have 79 members in the council, while its allies, the RLD, SBSP, Nishad Party and Apna Dal (S), have one member each, taking the NDA’s combined strength to 84.
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The SP increased its strength from 10 to 12 members in the Council. The party’s position as the principal opposition was at stake in the election, as it needed at least 10 members to retain the post of Leader of the Opposition (LoP) . By winning five seats, the SP not only increased its tally but also retained the post.
In the 2020 elections for the 11 Council seats, the BJP had won six, the SP three and independent candidates two. In the 2026 elections, the SP increased its tally to five by winning the Lucknow Graduate seat, previously held by the BJP, and the Agra Teacher seat, previously held by an independent candidate.
The number of independent members in the Council has fallen from four to three following the election. Although the BJP lost the Lucknow Graduate seat, it retained six seats overall, including the Gorakhpur-Faizabad Teacher constituency, where Dhruv Kumar Tripathi won. In the 2020 election, Tripathi had won the seat as a non-party candidate. This time, he contested on a BJP ticket and defeated independent candidate Rajeev Yadav by 307 votes.
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The Congress and the BSP have no representation in the Council, while the Jansatta Dal Loktantrik, led by Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, has one member.
BJP and SP leaders hailed their respective parties’ performances in the Council elections. The BJP maintained its dominance in western Uttar Pradesh by retaining both seats in Meerut. Dinesh Kumar Goyal won the Graduate constituency with 24,929 votes against 12,073 polled by SP candidate Pramendra Singh. Shrichand Sharma retained the Teacher seat with 18,099 votes, while SP candidate Nitin Tomar secured 4,858 votes.
The BJP also retained the Bareilly-Moradabad Teacher seat, where its candidate Hari Singh Dhillon won 21,672 votes against 3,996 polled by SP candidate Haji Danish Ali. BJP candidate Manvendra Pratap Singh retained the Agra Graduate seat with 42,743 votes, while his nearest rival, Shashank Yadav, secured 27,734 votes. The party also retained the Lucknow Teacher seat, where Umesh Dwivedi secured 13,179 votes against 8,371 polled by SP candidate Sushil Kumar.
In a close contest, BJP candidate Dhruv Kumar Tripathi retained the Gorakhpur-Faizabad Teacher constituency with 16,790 votes, defeating independent candidate Rajeev Yadav, who secured 14,580 votes.
The SP, meanwhile, showed its dominance in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bundelkhand region.
The party retained the Varanasi Teacher seat, where former LoP in the Legislative Council Lal Bihari Yadav won a second consecutive term with 11,612 votes against 6,597 polled by BJP candidate Pramod Kumar Mishra. The SP also won the Agra teacher seat, where Akash Agrawal secured 14,046 votes, defeating BJP candidate Hari Kishor Tiwari, who polled 9,783 votes.
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The SP retained the Allahabad-Jhansi Graduate seat through Man Singh Yadav, who secured 60,358 votes against 32,695 polled by Ashok Kumar Rathor. SP candidate Kanti Singh won the Lucknow graduate seat with 56,905 votes, while BJP candidate Avanish Kumar Singh secured 39,778 votes.
SP candidate Ashutosh Sinha was elected from the Varanasi Graduate seat with 55,046 votes, defeating BJP candidate Kedarnath Singh, who secured 35,114 votes.
