The MLC elections showcased mixed results for BJP, with SP gaining two seats in Uttar Pradesh and MVA outperforming Mahayuti in Maharashtra. SP's success in Varanasi, PM Modi's constituency, and Congress' win in Nagpur, RSS's headquarters, highlight significant setbacks for BJP. Meanwhile, BJP dominated in Karnataka and maintained an edge in Bihar.
RESULTS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL (LC) elections initially pointed towards an one-sided victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have taken an interesting turn with the Samajwadi Party (SP) winning five out of the eleven seats, and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance winning the three of the five MLC (Member of Legislative Council) seats in Maharashtra.
In Uttar Pradesh the BJP has secured six seats and retained its pre-poll numbers. The SP on the other hand have made progress by gaining two seats just ahead of the assembly polls in the state.
In Maharashtra, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-Sharad Pawar) won two seats and Congress won one seat, totalling three seats for the MVA, against the ruling Mahayuti alliance’s two seats.
What came as a major point of discussion was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comments on October 28, 2026 over a post on X. Taking an edge over the initial results, Modi took an aim at the Congress party, and posted a sarcastic statement on X:
“MLC elections in 28 seats across 4 big states - Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka. Elections held using ballot papers. Guess how many seats Congress won?” wrote PM Modi on X. However, the statement has now backfired, as the final results of the polls point towards BJP’s relatively diminishing influence in Nagpur and Varanasi, where they have lost. In Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, BJP has retained its numbers, while SP and MVA made progress.
With months remaining before the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the results of the MLC elections hold a great deal of relevance. It acts as a pre-test before the main battle in the state, and provides for the parties to alter, boost and build on their strategies. Furthermore, its results act as a factor in boosting the morale of the parties and its cadre at the ground level.
Legislative Council (LC) elections in Uttar Pradesh were held for 11 MLC seats. Of these, BJP won six and SP won five seats. Thereby, SP gained an advancement over two seats, while BJP maintained its earlier tally.
SP won two seats in Varanasi, one in Agra, Lucknow and Allahabad-Jhansi respectively. In Varanasi, it retained the party’s hold in the Varanasi Teachers’ MLC seat and the Varanasi Graduates’ constituency.
It won the Agra Teachers’ constituency, Lucknow Graduates’ constituency, and the Allahabad-Jhansi Graduates’ constituency.
The BJP on the other hand emerged triumphant in the Lucknow Teachers’, Meerut-Saharanpur Teachers’, Meerut-Saharanpur Graduates', Gorakhpur-Faizabad Teachers', and Bareilly-Moradabad Teachers' constituencies.
The primary reason that this result could be seen as a better performance by the SP are manifold. One, Yogi Adityanath had himself campaigned on ground for all the BJP candidates. Second, Varanasi is the Parliamentary constituency of PM Modi. Despite this, the Varanasi seats have gone to the Samajwadi Party. Third, SP has increased its seat tally by two seats. And finally, the campaign strategy for Samajwadi Party focused on the outreach of ground-level workers, which worked in their favour.
The results in Maharashtra have been optimistic for the Congress and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction). Their alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has won three out of five seats, and Mahayuti alliance won two. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance consisted of the Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar) and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray).
What has been interesting in Maharashtra is Congress’ victory in Nagpur. With this victory, the Congress has defeated BJP twice in its homeground, which is also the headquarters of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha (RSS) — the Hindu nationalist organization. Earlier, the BJP lost Nagpur for the first time in 2020. In Nagpur, the incumbent Congress MLC, Abhijeet Wanjari secured 67,231 votes, against BJP’s 63,960 votes.
The defeat has serious repercussions for the ruling Mahayuti block, as Nagpur is also the homeground of Union minister Nitin Gadkari, and Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis. Additionally, of the six assembly constituencies in Nagpur, three are under BJP, and two under Congress, thereby showcasing a relatively poor performance on the part of BJP and its allies in the State.
For the NCP (Sharad Pawar), Harshada Deshmukh won the Pune Graduates’ constituency defeating BJPs Smita Jadhav, and Dr Pratapsinh Patil won the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) Graduates’ constituency, against sitting NCP MLA Satish Chavan.
In the Mahayuti Alliance, BJP and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) won two seats. BJP’s Kaustubh Gawade won the Pune Teachers’ constituency, and Shiv Sena’s (Eknath Shinde) Kiran Sarnaik won the Amravati Division Teachers’ constituency.
In Karnataka the ruling Congress party suffered a major defeat, as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) — comprising the BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) — won all four seats in Karnataka’s legislative council.
A.P Ranganath won the Bengaluru Teachers’ Constituency by 908 votes. NDA also secured safe victories in the West Graduates’ South-East Graduates’ and North-East Teachers’ constituencies.
In West Graduates’ constituency, NDA candidate SV Sanukumar, won by a margin of 9,323 votes, securing a third consecutive victory. KM Suresh of the BJP won in South-East Graduates, and Sashil Namoshi won the North-East Teachers’ constituency.
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In a state where Congress runs the state government, such a defeat showcases the serious lapses within the party’s strategic and political endeavors.
In Bihar, NDA has an edge over others. However, the final results of polls have not been fully published.
(Edited by Ritik Singh)
[OG/AR/RS]
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