SP snatches two seats from BJP in legislative council polls in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi

The BJP has lost two seats in Varanasi constituency to Samajwadi Party (SP) where Legislative Council Elections were held earlier this week. Both the seats - one reserved for teachers and the other for graduates - were won by Samajwadi Party candidates Ashutosh Sinha and Lal Bihari Yadav. 

In PM Modi's parliamentary constituency Varanasi, the party has lost two seats in the legislative council elections after a gap of 10 years. Legislative Council Elections were held for a total of 11 seats (six teachers’ constituencies and five graduates’ constituencies) across Uttar Pradesh on December 1. 

UP MLC polls: BJP, SP win two seats each

Overall, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BJP bagged two seats each in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council election to the Graduates' constituencies, while counting of votes was underway on one seat. 

BJP candidates Manvendra Pratap Singh 'Guru Ji' won the Agra Division Graduates' seat and Dinesh Goyal won the Meerut Graduates' seat, while SP's Ashutosh Sinha won Varanasi Division Graduates' seat and Maan Singh Yadav won from the Allahabad-Jhansi Division Graduates' seat, the election office said.

While the SP has wrested the Varanasi and the Allahabad-Jhansi seats from the BJP, it lost the Agra seat to the saffron party. On Friday, the results for six teachers' constituency seats were declared of which three were taken by the BJP, one by the SP and two by independents.

READ | S Gurumurthy speaks to Arnab on India's challenges, media & Rajinikanth's political impact

READ | Republic's AVP Ghanshyam Singh granted Bail after 25 days in Taloja jail in fraud TRP case

BJP's Umesh Dwivedi, Shrishchandra Sharma and Hari Singh Dhillon were declared winners from Lucknow, Meerut and Bareilly-Moradabad teachers' constituencies respectively. SP candidates Lal Bihari Yadav won from Varanasi teachers' constituency, and independents Akash Agarwal and Dhruv Kumar Tripathi won from the Agra and the Faizabad teachers' constituencies respectively. The term of office of the MLCs from these constituencies had expired on May 6.

Polling stood at 55.47% as voters exercised their franchise in the election for 11 seats of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council on Tuesday, the state election commission had said.

READ | Pfizer seeks emergency use authorisation for COVID-19 vaccine in India after UK clearance

READ | Farmers' stir: Tomar reiterates assurance on MSP & APMC, another round of talks on Dec 9

(With agency inputs)