MLC election result 2026 LIVE: SP's Ashutosh Sinha wins Varanasi Graduate seat by 16,999 votes, claims party leader

Polling officials handle ballot papers during the counting of votes for the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) election, in Nagpur, Maharashtra.

MLC election result LIVE: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 13 of the 28 legislative council seats that went to the polls across Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka, while the Congress won one. The Samajwadi Party (SP) made gains in Uttar Pradesh, and the Jan Suraaj Party opened its account in Bihar’s upper House.

All 28 seats belonged to graduate or teacher constituencies. Polling was held on October 23 through ballot papers, but counting stretched over nearly two days amid chaos, allegations and protests.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi commented on the results on X, asking how many seats the Congress had won in the elections across the four states.

Uttar Pradesh

The BJP retained its tally of six seats in Uttar Pradesh, while the SP won five, increasing its tally by two compared with the previous election in 2020. The results come ahead of the state assembly elections due next year, in which the BJP is seeking a third consecutive term.

The BJP retained seats in Meerut, Bareilly-Moradabad, Lucknow, Agra and Gorakhpur-Faizabad, including the Gorakhpur-Faizabad teacher seat by a narrow margin of 307 votes.

However, the party faced setbacks in Varanasi, where the SP retained both graduate and teacher constituencies. The SP also won the Agra teacher seat, the Allahabad-Jhansi graduate seat and the Lucknow graduate seat.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav described the results as a major setback for the BJP, claiming the party had been “completely wiped out” in the UP MLC elections.

The BJP holds 79 seats in the 100-member Uttar Pradesh legislative council, while the SP has 10.

Karnataka

The Congress failed to win any of the four seats in Karnataka, with the JD(S) wresting the Bengaluru teacher constituency from the ruling party. The BJP retained the North-East teacher, South-East graduate and West graduate seats, defeating Congress candidates.

The results were an embarrassment for chief minister DK Shivakumar, who said the party would examine where it had gone wrong and take corrective steps.

Karnataka BJP chief BY Vijayendra called the results a rejection of the Congress, while Union minister HD Kumaraswamy said the NDA's performance sent a message ahead of the 2028 assembly elections.

The state's 75-member legislative council has 38 Congress members, 24 BJP members and six JD(S) members, apart from one independent member and the chairman. Five nominated seats are vacant.

Bihar

In Bihar, the BJP won three of the eight seats, while the JD(U), RJD and Jan Suraaj Party won one each. Independents secured the remaining two seats.

Jan Suraaj candidate Suresh Prasad Rai defeated Congress MLC Madan Mohan Jha by 324 votes in the Darbhanga teacher constituency, marking the party's entry into the legislative council.

The BJP's notable victory came in Tirhut, Muzaffarpur, which was previously held by the CPI's Sanjay Kumar Singh. However, the party suffered a setback in the Patna teacher seat, where five-time winner Nawal Kishore Yadav lost to the RJD's Sanjeev Kumar.

In the Patna graduate constituency, JD(U)'s Neeraj Kumar defeated RJD candidate Dilip Kumar amid internal dissent within the JD(U). Mokama MLA Anant Kumar Singh had campaigned against Neeraj Kumar and backed Jan Suraaj candidate Anuj Singh. The JD(U) later suspended Anant Singh for six years over alleged anti-party activities.

Neeraj Kumar said the result showed that “money power and muscle power have lost”, crediting party workers and public support for his victory.

Maharashtra

In Maharashtra, the Congress pulled off a surprise win in the Nagpur graduate constituency, with sitting MLC Abhijit Wanjari defeating the BJP’s Sudhakar Kohale after the counting of second-preference votes. The MVA won two seats and was leading in another, while the ruling Mahayuti secured two seats.

The BJP won the Pune teacher constituency, while the Shiv Sena secured the Amravati teacher seat. The Nationalist Congress Party did not win any seat.

The NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) won the Pune graduate constituency and was leading in Aurangabad, while the Congress won the Nagpur graduate seat. The Shiv Sena (UBT) failed to win a seat.

In Nagpur, Congress candidate and sitting MLC Abhijit Wanjari defeated BJP's Sudhakar Kohale in a closely fought contest in chief minister Devendra Fadnavis's home district. Wanjari's victory came after second-preference votes were counted, as Kohale failed to reach the required quota in the first round.

Rebellions within both the Mahayuti and the MVA affected the prospects of official candidates in several constituencies.

What are legislative council elections?

A legislative council functions as the upper House of a state's legislature, similar to the Rajya Sabha at the national level. Members of legislative councils, known as MLCs, serve six-year terms, with one-third retiring every two years.

Only six Indian states have bicameral legislatures, with both legislative assemblies and councils.

Members are elected through different constituencies. Local authorities elect one-third of the members, graduates elect one-twelfth, and teachers with the required experience elect another one-twelfth. The governor nominates the remaining members from fields such as literature, science and social service.

Candidates must be at least 30 years old to contest legislative council elections, compared with the minimum age of 25 for Lok Sabha and state assembly elections.