In the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency of Varanasi saw a notable victory for Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party. In addition to holding onto the Varanasi Teachers' MLC seat, the Samajwadi Party is expected to win the Varanasi Graduates' constituency handily. Despite the BJP's overall advantage—winning five seats and leading in one—the SP also won the Agra Teachers' constituency.
Along with one additional seat, the BJP gained the constituencies for Lucknow Teachers, Meerut-Saharanpur Teachers, Bareilly-Moradabad Teachers, and Meerut-Saharanpur Graduates. In advance of the 2027 Assembly elections, 11 UP Legislative Council seats were up for election, and the outcome was seen as a crucial gage for political parties.
You must be wondering what the constituency are for instructors and grads. States having two houses in their legislature—the assembly and the council—have these constituencies.
There was a belief during the Constitution's formulation that having some Council members chosen solely by educated people would lessen the influence of caste, religion, wealth, or physical strength.
Preferential voting is therefore used in MLC elections for the constituency of professors and graduates. The general public is not eligible to vote; only registered teachers or graduates can.
2026 VARANASI MLC ELECTION RESULTS
Given that they are part of the Prime Minister's constituency, the two Varanasi constituencies were the most widely monitored.
MLC elections provide insights into regional power dynamics, party organization, and local issues, even though they do not directly reflect voter sentiment.
Lal Bihari Yadav of the SP defeated Pramod Kumar Mishra of the BJP by 4,898 votes in the Varanasi Teachers' seat. He defeated Mishra, who was running as an Independent in 2020, by a mere 936 votes.
However, Ashutosh Sinha of the Samajwadi Party is expected to defeat Kedar Nath Singh of the BJP in the Varanasi Graduates' constituency.
Teachers, according to Yadav, fully supported the Samajwadi Party and gave party leader Akhilesh Yadav credit for his win. "The party has been able to contest strongly across all seats in UP because of the positive approach of our national president," Yadav said to ANI.
He claimed that Akhilesh had the same perspective as "Netaji," who was seen as a leader among educators. Mulayam Singh Yadav, the father of Akhilesh and a prominent member of the Samajwadi Party, was affectionately referred to by his supporters as "Netaji."
The controversial UGC Bill, which established rules to eliminate caste-based discrimination in universities, had no influence on the election, according to Yadav. "The UGC bill had no impact on our election because the people associated with the UGC bill remained divided among themselves," the Supreme Court said, suspending the legislation. "Those who desired job security stayed with us," he added.
WHAT DOES SP'S VARANASI WIN MEAN?
Leaders of the Samajwadi Party emphasized that the win represents a shift in attitude in the BJP's heartland and described it as a bellwether for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections next year.
The fact that PM Modi won the Lok Sabha elections in 2024 by a smaller margin than in 2019 and 2014 was cited by a number of SP leaders. After falling behind at first in the 2024 elections, PM Modi stunned everyone by defeating Congressman Ajay Rai by more than 1.50 lakh votes.
The districts of Varanasi, Chandauli, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, Bhadohi, and Ballia are included in the Varanasi division.
Before the major fight in 2027, Akhilesh Yadav's impressive performance in Varanasi gives him a substantial psychological lift and bragging rights.
"The BJP has just served to humiliate teachers. The plot to force students to execute the most humiliating and unwelcome chore of gathering fodder will stick in the minds of all educators. They will beat the BJP in the 2027 elections to fulfilll their "Guru Sankalp," Akhilesh tweeted.
In PM Modi's constituency, it is a blow for the BJP. It indicates middle-class voters' localized dissatisfaction and policy-related worries.Congress politician Srivatsa tweeted, "It's significant that the BJP is losing in the PM's own constituency a few months before the UP elections, especially to educated votes from teachers and graduate communities."
Nevertheless, the BJP performed admirably in other parts of the state, effectively defending its territory in western and northern Uttar Pradesh, despite the crucial defeat in Varanasi.
