The BJP has won four of the 11 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council seats, retaining the Bareilly-Moradabad Teachers’ seat and sweeping both the Teachers’ and Graduates’ constituencies in Meerut, as counting continued in other constituencies on Wednesday, officials said.
In Bareilly-Moradabad, BJP candidate Hari Singh Dhillon defeated Samajwadi Party (SP) nominee Danish Akhtar by 17,676 votes. Dhillon secured 21,672 votes against Akhtar’s 3,996, retaining the seat for the BJP.
Returning Officer and Commissioner of the Bareilly division, Shambhu Kumar, handed over the certificate of election to Dhillon late Tuesday night.
Kumar said that at the end of all five rounds of counting, Dhillon had received a total of 21,672 votes and Akhtar had secured 3,996 votes.
The BJP won both the Teachers' and Graduates' constituencies in Meerut. According to an official, BJP candidates Dinesh Kumar Goyal (Meerut Graduates' constituency) and Shri Chand Sharma (Meerut Teachers' constituency) were declared winners. Certificates of election have been handed over to them.
The BJP also won the Lucknow Teachers' constituency, where its candidate Umesh Dwivedi defeated SP's Sushil Kumar by 6,992 votes. Dwivedi secured 13,179 votes against Kumar's 8,371, according to the declared results.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav has claimed victory for party candidate Akash Agrawal in the Agra Teachers' constituency and demanded that the administration issue him the certificate of election immediately.
Akhilesh Yadav also shared a video on X in which Agrawal is seen wearing a torn kurta, while his supporters allege that he was assaulted.
"Let the BJP explain how the treatment meted out by its people to SP MLC candidate, Dr. Akash Agrawal, who is winning from Agra, can be justified," he said.
The former chief minister urged the Election Commission, the Supreme Court and the President to immediately take cognisance of the matter.
Akhilesh Yadav said the entire society is deeply outraged by such "inhumane treatment" and "violence" against Agrawal.
"Even the Agrawal community has now realised that in truth, the BJP is no one's ally," he claimed.
After the fifth round of counting for the Allahabad-Jhansi division Graduates' seat election, SP's Mansingh Yadav had secured 27,157 votes as against his nearest rival and BJP candidate Ashok Rathore's 7,648 votes.
In the Gorakhpur-Faizabad division Teachers' constituency, BJP candidate Dhruv Kumar Tripathi was leading with 466 votes against his nearest rival, Independent candidate Rajiv Yadav, after the final round of counting.
Tripathi received 11,881 votes, while Rajiv Yadav received 11,415. SP's Sanjayan Tripathi stood third with 8,301 votes.
During the counting for this seat, disputes arose regarding the margin of votes and the procedures followed. Candidates raised objections after 52 more votes were found in a ballot box from a booth in Mau than what was recorded in the official data.
Additional Commissioner of Ayodhya Ajay Saini was removed following a complaint from a candidate.
The administration said the counting process is being conducted in accordance with the rules.
Voting for 11 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, comprising five graduate and six teachers' constituencies, was held on Friday.
Coming ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the MLC polls are being seen as a prestige battle between the ruling BJP and the opposition SP.
(With Inputs From PTI)