Samajwadi Party wins Lucknow and Varanasi seats and leads in another, as the BJP scrapes through by 307 votes in Gorakhpur
Lucknow, October 29: Months before the 2027 Assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has dealt the BJP a symbolic blow in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections. The SP won four of the 11 graduate and teachers’ seats and was leading in a fifth, while the BJP held on to six, the same as its 2020 tally.
The SP’s wins came in BJP strongholds. It retained the Varanasi teachers’ seat in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency and was ahead by over 9,000 votes in the Varanasi graduate seat. In Lucknow, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s constituency, Kanti Singh wrested the graduate seat from the BJP. The SP also won the Allahabad-Jhansi graduate and Agra teachers’ seats.
The BJP held its ground in western UP, retaining both Meerut seats, the Bareilly-Moradabad teachers’ seat, the Agra graduate seat and the Lucknow teachers’ seat. In the Gorakhpur-Faizabad teachers’ seat, considered Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s turf, it won by just 307 votes.
The polls, held on ballot paper, were seen as a test for the BJP after its UP Lok Sabha tally fell from 62 to 33 in 2024. Counting saw tense scenes and clashes between BJP and SP supporters in Agra.
Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya admitted the party had hoped for more seats and said it would introspect. Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak said the BJP would win a third straight term in 2027. The Congress called the result a major setback for the BJP.
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