U.P. MLC poll results mark a defeat of BJP’s anti-education policies: Opposition leaders

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav addresses a press conference at the party office, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Tuesday, October 27, 2026. | Photo Credit: PTI

With the Samajwadi party winning five of the 11 Legislative Council seats that went to the polls in Uttar Pradesh, the Opposition INDIA bloc said on Thursday that the outcome was a defeat of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s anti-teacher and anti-education policies. Despite massive administrative support for the BJP candidates, the results signify growing public discontent with the BJP government, Opposition leaders said.

“This is a double defeat of the double engine. The BJP’s defeat in the Legislative Council elections has set the stage for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections to be held in 2027,” said SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, in a post on X. “On the one hand, this represents a defeat for the BJP’s anti-teacher, anti-learner, and anti-education policies, while on the other, educated unemployed graduates have also declared their verdict. The way the BJP has victimised and humiliated every community has brought all the oppressed together. The PDA’s support base has now grown to 95 percent, because those who suffer are the PDA,” he said.

‘BJP faces existential crisis’

The SP president claimed that the six seats won by the BJP in the Legislative Council polls came through fraud and manipulation. “The BJP has become a flop show. In Varanasi, the BJP lost first in the counting and then again in the re-counting, meaning the counting took place twice and both times the BJP and its allies lost. This has triggered an existential crisis within the BJP, as everyone within the party knows that even the seats it won were won through fraud,” he said.

“Internal divisions within the BJP have exacerbated the double-engine conflict. Consequently, BJP candidates have completely lost the courage to contest the Assembly elections. The BJP, which previously conducted candidate surveys, is now searching for candidates with binoculars, but no one is visible,” Mr. Yadav said, adding that the awareness and unity of voters will become the “decisive foundation” for forming an SP government in 2027.

The SP won five seats, through its candidates Kanti Singh (Lucknow Division Graduates’ seat), Lal Bihari Yadav (Varanasi division Teachers seat), Akash Agarwal (Agra Division Teachers’ seat), Asutosh Sinha (Varanasi Division Graduates’ seat) and Man Singh Yadav (Jhansi-Prayagraj Graduates’ seat). In the previous Council election held in 2020, the party had won only three seats. 

‘Educated voters oppose BJP’

The Congress said the Opposition’s victory in five seats signals resentment against the BJP even among its core support base, despite the blatant misuse of State apparatus and officials.

“We saw how the administration delayed the counting on many seats including Varanasi and Gorakhpur. Since the start of the election campaign, the BJP was favoured by the administration. Despite this, the SP-Congress alliance won five seats. It signals how educated sections of society are fully opposed to the BJP and waiting for 2027 polls to defeat the BJP,” said Congress national secretary Shahnawaz Alam.

Published - October 29, 2026 11:05 pm IST