BJP Varanasi Setback as SP Retains Two Key Council Seats

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has suffered a setback in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency of varanasi, where the Samajwadi Party (SP) retained two key seats in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections. The results come months before the state Assembly elections and offer the Opposition party an opportunity to highlight its performance in a region where the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) holds a significant share of Assembly seats.

Of the 11 legislative council seats contested in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP won six, while the Samajwadi Party secured five. The result represents a substantial improvement for the SP, which had won only two of these 11 seats in the previous election.

In Varanasi, the SP retained both the teachers constituency and the graduates constituency. These victories are particularly significant because the seats are located within the broader parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and represent voters drawn from specific professional and educational groups.

Although elections to teachers and graduates constituencies do not necessarily reflect the preferences of the wider electorate across caste, age and social groups, they can offer insights into the concerns of educated voters. The results come amid wider public frustration over unemployment and examination paper leaks affecting candidates preparing for competitive examinations.

For the BJP, the outcome raises questions about its local organisation, voter mobilisation and campaign strategy. Party leaders have acknowledged that overconfidence and organisational shortcomings may have contributed to the defeats, while the SP has demonstrated its ability to mobilise supporters in the two constituencies.

How the Samajwadi Party Won Both Varanasi Seats

The Samajwadi Party’s victories in the Varanasi teachers and graduates constituencies were marked by improved winning margins compared with the 2020 elections. The results also highlighted the continuing electoral contest between the BJP and SP in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Lal Bihari Yadav Retains Varanasi Teachers Seat

SP candidate Lal Bihari Yadav retained the Varanasi teachers constituency, defeating the BJP’s Pramod Kumar Mishra by 5,015 votes.

The result marked a stronger victory for Yadav than in the 2020 election, when he defeated Mishra, who was then contesting as an Independent candidate, by a margin of 936 votes.

Chet Narayan Singh, a sitting Member of the Legislative Council who had received BJP support in 2020, contested as an Independent candidate this time and finished third.

The outcome suggests that the SP maintained its support among voters in the teachers constituency despite the BJP’s campaign efforts. Yadav’s increased winning margin also gives the Opposition party a result it can point to as evidence of its continued presence among organised professional electorates in the region.

Ashutosh Sinha Wins Varanasi Graduates Seat by 18,459 Votes

The Samajwadi Party also retained the Varanasi graduates constituency, where its sitting MLC, Ashutosh Sinha, defeated the BJP’s Kedar Nath Singh by 18,459 votes.

Sinha’s victory margin was considerably higher than the 3,850 votes by which he won in 2020. Kedar Nath Singh, whom Sinha defeated in the previous election, finished second again.

The larger margin makes the graduates constituency one of the most closely watched outcomes of the legislative council elections. It also provides the SP with a stronger result in a constituency representing educated voters across several districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh.

However, the result should not automatically be interpreted as a direct forecast of the Assembly elections. Graduates constituency voters form a specific electorate, and their political preferences may differ from those of the wider population.

Varanasi Counting Turns Into a Test of Nerves

The Varanasi graduates constituency election was marked by an unusually prolonged counting process, which continued for well over 50 hours. The extended counting period heightened tensions between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party, with both parties sending workers and leaders to the counting centre.

As the counting continued, the political contest became a test of organisation and perseverance, with party cadres remaining at the centre while awaiting the final result.

On Thursday morning, October 29, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav appealed to party workers not to leave the counting centre without collecting the victory certificate.

In a post on X, Yadav urged workers to remain at the centre until the formal certificate was issued. He also asked party workers in Varanasi to arrange food, drinking water, umbrellas and towels for their colleagues and to maintain their morale during the prolonged wait.

Yadav shared a picture of party leaders sitting outside the counting centre and encouraged supporters to remain vigilant until the process was completed.

His message included the Hindi lines:

जो न डरे आज के जुल्मों के हालात से

सब डटे रहें और जीत का प्रमाणपत्र लेकर ही उठें। हम वाराणसी शहर के अपने कार्यकर्ताओं से अपील करते हैं कि वो मतगणना केंद्र पर भोजन, पानी, छतरी और तौलिये आदि की व्यवस्था करके अपने साथियों की मदद करें और हौसलों के गीत गाकर जागते रहें… सवेरा अपना होगा।

सड़क पर लिखी वो चेतावनी याद रखें : नज़र हटी, दुर्घटना घटी!

Earlier, Yadav had questioned the integrity of the counting process in another post. Referring to reports of a recount in Varanasi, he said he had heard that people were arriving at the counting centre with Gangajal so officials could be asked to hold it and undergo a test of their integrity.

Late on Wednesday night, BJP candidate Kedar Nath Singh demanded a recount, alleging irregularities in the counting process and attempts to manipulate the outcome.

The competing allegations and the prolonged counting process intensified the political atmosphere around the election. The SP sought to ensure that its workers remained present until the formal completion of the process, while the BJP candidate questioned aspects of the count.

Why the Varanasi Results Matter Before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections

The significance of the Varanasi results extends beyond the two legislative council seats. The graduates and teachers constituencies of the Varanasi division cover eight districts: Ballia, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Varanasi, Chandauli, Bhadohi, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra.

Together, these districts account for 47 Assembly constituencies, making the region an important area of competition between the BJP-led NDA and the Samajwadi Party ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

In the 2022 Assembly elections, the BJP-led NDA won 28 of the 47 seats in these districts. The BJP secured 22 seats, while Apna Dal (S) and the Nishad Party won three seats each.

The Samajwadi Party won 14 Assembly seats in the region. Its then ally, Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, won four, while the Bahujan Samaj Party secured the remaining seat.

Rajbhar’s party has since joined the NDA, and he is now a cabinet minister. This political realignment has changed the composition of the alliance compared with the 2022 election.

The BJP has also given substantial representation to the eight districts in the Uttar Pradesh government, with nine state cabinet ministers coming from the region.

Against this backdrop, the SP’s victories in both Varanasi legislative council constituencies provide the party with an opportunity to demonstrate its continuing organisational presence. The results may also encourage it to focus on voter mobilisation in eastern Uttar Pradesh as the Assembly election approaches.

At the same time, the outcome does not establish that the BJP has lost support across the entire region. The legislative council elections involve a different electorate from Assembly polls, and the results must be assessed within that context.

BJP Deployed Senior Leaders but Failed to Retain the Varanasi Seats

The BJP had deployed senior leaders to campaign ahead of the legislative council elections, indicating that the party considered the teachers and graduates constituencies important.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed a teachers-and-graduates gathering on October 14 as part of the BJP’s campaign. During the event, he described the Samajwadi Party as “anti-education” and accused its previous governments of corruption in government job recruitment.

Adityanath appealed to voters not to trust the party led by Akhilesh Yadav, framing the contest around the SP’s record in education and recruitment.

Uttar Pradesh Cabinet minister Suresh Khanna had also addressed the party’s earlier performance in the constituencies. He said the BJP lost both seats in 2020 because of overconfidence.

Despite the campaign by senior leaders, the SP retained both seats in the latest election. The result has prompted questions within the BJP about whether its candidates and local organisation did enough to mobilise eligible voters.

A senior BJP leader acknowledged that overconfidence and negligence may have contributed to the outcome and said the party would conduct a district-wise analysis of the votes polled.

Another party leader argued that the Samajwadi Party had been more active in getting its supporters registered as voters. According to the leader, BJP candidates and the party organisation relied too heavily on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath rather than reaching out directly to voters.

These assessments point to organisational issues that the BJP may examine before the Assembly elections. They also highlight the difference between relying on the popularity of senior leaders and building a strong local campaign among the specific groups eligible to vote in legislative council elections.

Unemployment and Examination Paper Leaks Remain Important Political Issues

The Varanasi results come against the backdrop of protests over unemployment and examination paper leaks, issues that have generated frustration among young people preparing for competitive examinations.

Teachers and graduates constituencies represent a section of the electorate with direct links to education, professional employment and public recruitment. Their voting patterns can therefore offer political parties clues about how some educated voters view contemporary issues.

However, the election results alone do not establish why individual voters supported a particular candidate. The supplied results do not provide a detailed voter survey identifying the specific issues that determined the outcome.

Nevertheless, the BJP’s own post-election comments have focused on organisational performance, voter registration and the party’s reliance on the popularity of Modi and Adityanath. These concerns could influence how it approaches outreach to graduates, teachers and other eligible voters in the run-up to the Assembly polls.

For the Samajwadi Party, the victories provide an opportunity to highlight its performance in constituencies where the BJP had campaigned actively. Retaining both seats with larger margins than in 2020 may also strengthen the party’s messaging around its ability to compete with the ruling party in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

What the Results Could Mean for the BJP and SP

The BJP’s six wins across the 11 Uttar Pradesh legislative council seats mean it secured more seats overall than the Samajwadi Party, which won five. Yet the SP’s performance represents a notable improvement from its previous result of two seats.

The victories in Varanasi are particularly relevant because the city falls within Modi’s parliamentary constituency. Retaining the teachers and graduates seats gives the SP a political result to emphasise ahead of the Assembly election, while the BJP will need to assess why its campaign did not secure either constituency.

The results also underscore the importance of local organisation. BJP leaders have suggested that the party’s candidates and workers may have relied too heavily on the popularity of senior leaders instead of ensuring that supporters were registered and actively mobilised.

The SP’s performance, meanwhile, indicates that its organisation remained competitive in these specific electorates. The prolonged counting process also showed how closely party workers followed the outcome and how both sides treated the contest as politically significant.

However, legislative council elections involving teachers and graduates should not be treated as a direct substitute for a statewide Assembly election. The electorate is narrower, and the 47 Assembly constituencies across the eight districts include voters with different demographic backgrounds and political priorities.

Conclusion: Varanasi Results Give the SP Momentum Ahead of the 2027 Polls

The Samajwadi Party’s victories in the Varanasi teachers and graduates constituencies have delivered a setback to the BJP in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency, months before the next Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Across the 11 legislative council seats, the BJP won six and the SP five. The SP’s improved performance is notable because it had secured only two of these seats in the previous election.

Lal Bihari Yadav retained the teachers seat with a margin of 5,015 votes, while Ashutosh Sinha won the graduates seat by 18,459 votes. Both margins were larger than those recorded in 2020.

The BJP’s post-election assessment has focused on overconfidence, negligence, voter registration and an excessive reliance on the popularity of Modi and Adityanath. The party has indicated that it will conduct a district-wise review of the votes polled.

For the SP, the results offer an opportunity to highlight its organisational strength in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The eight districts covered by the two constituencies contain 47 Assembly seats, making the region relevant to the broader electoral contest.

Whether the legislative council results translate into wider changes in voter preferences remains uncertain. The Assembly election will involve a much broader electorate, but the Varanasi outcome has given both parties a reason to review their campaign strategies, voter outreach and local organisational performance.