LUCKNOW: In a major setback for the BJP in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Varanasi constituency, the party has lost two seats in the legislative council elections Both the seats — one reserved for teachers and the other for graduates — were won by the Samajwadi Party candidates.
The two seats that the Samajwadi Party bagged out of them are those of Varanasi and Allahabad-Jhansi divisions, won respectively by Ashutosh Sinha and Dr Maan Singh Yadav. Both the SP candidates bagged the seats divesting them from the BJP
Lal Bihari Yadav, the Samajwadi winner in the Varanasi teachers’ constituency, said, “It is a big victory for the party. I am very happy with the result.”
With results for two seats still pending, the BJP has won four of the 11 seats, the Samajwadi Party three and independent candidates won two.
Despite a favourable tally for he ruling party, the Samajwadi Party’s gains in the BJP stronghold have surprised many.
Uttar Pradesh is one of the six states in India with a bicameral legislature, with two Houses — the Vidhan Sabha or the Legislative Assembly and the Vidhan Parishad or the Legislative Council. The state legislative council has 100 members.
Polling was held on Tuesday for 11 Legislative Council seats — five reserved for the graduates and six for teachers seats with their electors only being graduates and teachers respectively.
The BJP, SP, Congress and teachers’ associations contested the polls, with 199 candidates in the fray. The BSP had not contested the polls.
Out of the five graduates' constituency seats in the Council, the BJP won three and the SP two, while out of the six teachers' constituency seats, the BJP bagged three, the SP one and independents two.
The term of office of the MLCs from these constituencies had expired on May 6.
Following the declaration of the results for the 11 legislative council seats, the tally of BJP in the 100-member Upper House of the state rose to 25 from 19, SP's to 55 from 52 and independents to four from two.
There are still three vacancies in the House.
BJP's Avanish Kumar Singh bagged the Lucknow graduates' constituency seat on Sunday while as per the results declared for graduates' constituency seats gradually since Saturday, his party emerged winner on three and the SP on two out of the five seats, following a tough fight for them.
The two other graduates' constituency seats that BJP bagged was those of Agra, won by Dr Manvendra Pratap Singh 'Guruji' and of Meerut won by Dinesh Kumar Goyal.
In results declared earlier on Friday for the six teachers' constituency seats, three were bagged by the BJP, two by independents and one by the Samajwadi Party.
BJP's Umesh Dwivedi, Shrishchandra Sharma and Hari Singh Dhillon were declared winners from Lucknow, Meerut and Bareilly-Moradabad teachers' constituencies respectively.
In the Teachers' constituency, BJP's Umesh Dwivedi had won from Lucknow, while last time, he had registered a win as an independent candidate.
In Meerut, BJP snatched the seat from MLC Om Prakash Sharma of Shikshak Dal.
In Bareilly-Moradabad teachers' constituency, the BJP won the seat after defeating the SP.
In Agra Teachers' constituency independent candidate Akash Agarwal defeated another independent candidate Jagveer Kishor Jain.
In the Gorakhpur-Faizabad teachers' constituency, independent candidate Dhruv Kumar Tripathi retained his seat.
Polling was held on Tuesday for 11 Legislative Council seats -- five reserved for the graduates and six for teachers seats with their electors only being graduates and teachers respectively.
The term of office of the MLCs from these constituencies had expired on May 6.
Reacting to the party's performance in the polls, UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh said, "In the teachers' constituencies, three out of 4 candidates fielded by the BJP won.
The BJP contested this polls for the first time.
"This has been a historic performance for the BJP. In the Graduates' constituency, the BJP won three seats," he added.
(With PTI Inputs)