Counting of votes for Legislative Council elections is underway across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party’s Lal Bihari Yadav won the Varanasi division teachers’ seat for a second consecutive term. The Bharatiya Janata Party retained both the teachers’ and graduates’ seats in Meerut, with Shrichand Sharma and Dinesh Goyal emerging victorious. The BJP also retained the Bareilly-Moradabad division teachers’ seat.
The BJP was leading in several other constituencies, including Gorakhpur-Faizabad teachers’, Lucknow teachers’ and Agra graduates’ seats, while the SP was ahead in the Agra teachers’ constituency. Clashes were reported at counting centres in Agra, with both BJP and SP candidates alleging attacks and appearing with torn kurtas. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the administration of delaying counting in Lucknow and alleged that BJP supporters were allowed inside a counting centre.
In Bihar, the BJP’s Narendra Prasad Singh won the Tirhut teachers’ seat. Counting continued for other seats, including Darbhanga and Saran, where independent and Jan Suraaj candidates were also in the fray. A BJP candidate lost the Patna teachers’ constituency.
In Maharashtra, the Mahayuti alliance was leading in three seats. In Karnataka, the BJP-JD(S) alliance was set to sweep all four seats, with AP Ranganath of the JD(S) defeating the Congress candidate in the Bengaluru teachers’ constituency.
The elections cover teachers’ and graduates’ constituencies. Official results are expected to be declared by the evening.