India
oi-Swastika Sruti
Social media is flooded with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comic style of roasting Congress as they did not win a single seat in the MLC elections 2026. He roasted the opposition who called EVM rigged and said that the MLC election was held using ballot papers, and Congress won ‘ZERO’.
In Uttar Pradesh MLC elections, the BJP won 6 of 11 seats, while the Samajwadi Party secured both Varanasi seats in PM Modi’s constituency. The NDA swept Karnataka’s four seats, and Bihar saw the NDA improve its tally with Jan Suraaj Party winning its first MLC seat.
However, the setback for Congress is evident. But here comes an interesting angle: BJP lost the MLC seat in the PM constituency. Yes ! The BJP suffered a noticeable setback in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections.
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? 🧐
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 28, 2026
And it must be noted that the Samajwadi Party (SP) won both the Varanasi Teachers’ and Graduates’ seats, with Lal Bihari Yadav and Ashutosh Sinha defeating their BJP rivals.
The results have put the spotlight on the SP’s performance ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. However, the BJP retained its overall advantage in the state, winning six of the 11 Legislative Council seats, while the SP secured five.
Across the four states that went to polls, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) recorded a clean sweep in Karnataka and improved its tally in Bihar. Maharashtra produced a competitive contest, with the ruling Mahayuti alliance facing challenges from opposition candidates and internal differences.
Another significant development came from Bihar, where Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party won its first Legislative Council seat. The results offer a picture of the parties’ strength among teachers and graduates, although this restricted electorate is different from the wider electorate that will vote in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Who Defeated BJP In PM Modi’s Varanasi?
The most closely watched results from Uttar Pradesh came from Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The SP won both Legislative Council seats in the Varanasi division, defeating BJP candidates in the teachers’ and graduates’ constituencies.
#WATCH | Varanasi, UP: BJP workers protest at the MLC election counting centre in the Pahadiya Mandi area, alleging irregularities in vote counting and accusing Teachers’ Constituency observer Pranjal Yadav of facilitating malpractice following the party’s defeats in the Graduates’ and Teachers’ Constituency elections
— ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2026
Lal Bihari Yadav retained the Varanasi Teachers’ seat after defeating BJP candidate Pramod Kumar Mishra. Yadav, who has represented the constituency and served as Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, secured another term.
The SP also won the Varanasi Graduates’ seat through Ashutosh Sinha, who defeated BJP candidate Kedar Nath Singh. The twin victories gave the opposition party a significant result in Modi’s parliamentary region.
Uttar Pradesh: BJP Wins Six Seats, SP Secures Five
Even though there was a lot of hype about the Varanasi victory, the BJP maintained their lead in the UP MLC elections.
BJP successfully managed to win 6 out of 11 seats, whereas the SP bagged 5 seats. It became evident from the results that even though SP made some gains in some important constituencies, BJP still had their presence among teachers and graduates in different parts of the state.
The BJP managed to secure the constituencies of Meerut Graduates’, Meerut Teachers’, Bareilly-Moradabad Teachers’, Lucknow Teachers’, Agra Graduates’ and Gorakhpur-Faizabad Teachers’.
Meanwhile, the SP won Varanasi Teachers’, Varanasi Graduates’, Agra Teachers’, Lucknow Graduates’ and Allahabad-Jhansi Graduates’ constituencies.
Karnataka: NDA Sweeps All Four Seats, Congress Draws A Blank
Karnataka delivered the clearest victory for the NDA. The BJP won three of the four Legislative Council seats, while its ally, the Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), secured the fourth.
The Congress, which governs Karnataka, failed to win any of the four seats it contested. The BJP retained the North-East Teachers’ constituency and won the South-East Graduates’ and West Graduates’ seats.
The JD(S) won the Bengaluru Teachers’ constituency, where its candidate A P Ranganath defeated sitting Congress MLC Puttanna. Puttanna had previously been associated with the JD(S) and BJP before joining the Congress ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
The result gave the BJP and JD(S) a clean sweep and highlighted their ability to coordinate their campaigns in these constituencies.
For the Congress, the outcome is a setback among the registered teachers and graduates who participated in the election. The NDA can use the results to highlight its organisational strength in the state, where the next Assembly election is expected in 2028.
However, Legislative Council elections involve a much smaller electorate than Assembly polls, and the outcome cannot by itself predict the next state election.
कांग्रेस को कब समझ आएगा कि समस्या EVM या बैलेट पेपर नहीं, शहजादे खुद हैं?जनता ही वोट नहीं देगी, तो मशीन बदलने से क्या होगा भाई? 😏
— BJP (@BJP4India) October 28, 2026
Bihar: Jan Suraaj Wins First MLC Seat As NDA Improves Its Tally
Bihar produced a mixed result, with the NDA winning four of the eight Legislative Council seats and improving its tally from three in the previous election.
The BJP won three seats, while its ally JD(U) secured one. The RJD and Jan Suraaj Party won one seat each, while Independent candidates secured the remaining two. The Congress failed to win a seat.
One of the most significant results came from the Patna Teachers’ constituency, where RJD candidate Sanjeev Kumar Singh defeated BJP veteran Nawal Kishore Yadav. Yadav had held the seat since 1996.
The BJP won the Tirhut Teachers’ constituency, while Jan Suraaj candidate Suresh Prasad Rai defeated former Bihar Congress president Madan Mohan Jha in Darbhanga Teachers’.
The victory marked Jan Suraaj’s first Legislative Council win, giving Prashant Kishor’s party a presence in the state legislature’s upper house. The result was also a setback for the Congress, whose former state president lost the contest.
Among the graduates’ constituencies, JD(U) candidate Neeraj Kumar retained Patna Graduates’. The BJP won Darbhanga Graduates’ and Kosi Graduates’, while Independent candidate Vanshidhar Brajwasi secured Tirhut Graduates’.
In Saran Teachers’, BJP rebel Rahul Raj won as an Independent, underlining the role of candidates who contested outside their parties’ official arrangements.
The Bihar results therefore offered different outcomes for the established parties and newer political forces. The NDA improved its tally, the RJD defeated a long-standing BJP MLC in Patna, and Jan Suraaj secured its first Council victory.
Maharashtra: Mahayuti Faces Opposition Challenge And Internal Differences
Maharashtra’s five Legislative Council seats tested the coordination of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, which includes the BJP, the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and the NCP faction led by Sunetra Pawar.
The alliance had agreed on a seat-sharing arrangement, but disagreements over candidates and support for rebel nominees complicated the contest.
During counting, Mahayuti candidates had won two seats and were leading in another, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was ahead in two constituencies. The final position depended on the completion of counting in the closely contested seats.
The BJP’s Kaustubh Gawde won Pune Teachers’, while Shiv Sena candidate Kiran Sarnaik secured Amravati Teachers’. In Nagpur Graduates’, BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale was leading against sitting Congress MLC Abhijeet Wanjari during the reported counting trends.
The NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) was leading in the Pune Graduates’ and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates’ constituencies as counting continued.
Differences within the ruling alliance were visible in Pune, where the BJP fielded Gawde while the Shinde-led Shiv Sena backed Independent candidate Sachin Sanap. Disagreements involving rebel candidates also added to the challenges faced by the alliance.
The opposition MVA, comprising the Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), also faced its own difficulties over candidate selection and seat-sharing.
Maharashtra’s results must also be viewed against the background of the Shiv Sena split in 2022 and the NCP split in 2023, which reshaped the state’s political alliances.
