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SP’s Varanasi victory raises questions ahead of UP polls (Img: Dynamite News)
New Delhi: The Samajwadi Party (SP) has scored a significant political victory in Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency, retaining the Teachers’ MLC seat and mounting a strong challenge in the Graduates’ constituency in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections. The party also won the Agra Teachers’ seat, giving SP chief Akhilesh Yadav fresh political ammunition ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.
The results have put the spotlight on the BJP’s position in Varanasi, a constituency closely associated with Modi, and raised questions about the ruling party’s support among specific voter groups. However, the MLC results are not a direct measure of statewide voter sentiment, and the BJP has continued to perform strongly in several other constituencies.
The SP’s victory in the Varanasi Teachers’ constituency is significant because it reinforces the party’s position among a specialised electorate in the Prime Minister’s constituency. SP candidate Lal Bihari Yadav defeated BJP candidate Pramod Kumar Mishra, securing a margin of 4,898 votes in the first-preference count before the transfer of subsequent preferences.
The victory also marked a substantial improvement on the 2020 contest, when Yadav defeated Mishra, who was then an Independent candidate, by just 936 votes.
In the Varanasi Graduates’ constituency, SP candidate Ashutosh Sinha was also leading BJP rival Kedar Nath Singh during counting. A strong showing in both seats would strengthen the SP’s claim that it is expanding its reach beyond its established support base. The final result in the graduates’ seat was still awaited at the time of reporting.
For Akhilesh Yadav, the Varanasi result offers a political and psychological boost before the 2027 Assembly elections. It gives the party an opportunity to challenge the BJP’s dominance in a constituency that carries considerable political symbolism.
Unlike Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Teachers’ and Graduates’ MLC elections are restricted to specific electorates. Only registered voters who meet the relevant eligibility criteria can vote in these constituencies; the general public does not participate.
These seats are part of the legislative council system in states with bicameral legislatures, which have both a Legislative Assembly and a Legislative Council. The constituencies provide representation to groups such as teachers and graduates.
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The elections use a preferential voting system, in which voters rank candidates according to their preferences. Votes can be transferred as candidates are eliminated, making the counting process more complex than in ordinary first-past-the-post elections.
The results can offer insights into party organisation, local political networks and concerns among particular voter groups. However, the electorate is much narrower than the one that votes in Assembly elections, so the results should not be treated as a definitive prediction of the 2027 outcome.
Yadav credited the party’s performance to Akhilesh Yadav’s leadership, saying teachers had backed the SP.
"The party has been able to contest strongly across all seats in UP because of the positive approach of our national president," Yadav said.
He also compared Akhilesh Yadav’s relationship with teachers to that of his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was popularly known as ‘Netaji’ among his supporters and was regarded by many teachers as a leader who understood their concerns.
Yadav dismissed suggestions that the controversy surrounding the University Grants Commission (UGC) Bill had influenced the election. The proposed regulations, intended to address caste-based discrimination in universities, had been stayed by the Supreme Court.
"The UGC bill had no impact on our election, because the people associated with the UGC bill remained divided among themselves. The people who wanted job security stayed with us," he further said.
The remarks underline the SP’s attempt to frame the results around teachers’ concerns, job security and the party’s engagement with professional groups.
The MLC results come as political parties prepare for the next Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. For the SP, victories in Varanasi and Agra provide an opportunity to highlight its organisational strength and argue that the BJP faces challenges even in areas where it has traditionally enjoyed considerable influence.
SP leaders have also pointed to Modi’s reduced victory margin in the 2024 Lok Sabha election compared with his wins in 2014 and 2019. In 2024, Modi defeated Congress candidate Ajay Rai in Varanasi by more than 1.5 lakh votes after trailing during the initial stages of counting.
The comparison is politically relevant to the SP’s narrative, but the Lok Sabha election and the MLC polls involve different electorates and cannot be directly equated.
The Varanasi division includes Varanasi, Chandauli, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, Bhadohi and Ballia districts. The SP will seek to use its performance in the region to strengthen its organisation and consolidate support before the Assembly elections.
Akhilesh Yadav has also criticised the BJP over teachers’ grievances, "Teachers have received nothing but humiliation from the BJP. Every teacher will remember the conspiracy to make them perform the most degrading and unwanted task of collecting fodder. They will fulfil their 'Guru Sankalp' by defeating the BJP in the 2027 elections."
The statement reflects the SP chief’s effort to turn teachers’ concerns into a broader political issue ahead of the next state election.
Despite its losses in Varanasi and Agra, the BJP has maintained a strong position across several other parts of Uttar Pradesh. It won seats in Lucknow, Meerut-Saharanpur and Bareilly-Moradabad, among other constituencies, as counting continued across the 11 MLC seats.
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The mixed results suggest that the contest remains competitive across different regions and voter groups rather than indicating a uniform shift in political support.
Congress leader Srivatsa also commented on the Varanasi result, "A few months to UP polls, the BJP losing in PM's own constituency and that too to educated votes from teachers and graduate communities is big."
The SP’s gains provide a talking point for the opposition, but the wider electoral picture remains more complex. The MLC results offer a snapshot of political support among teachers and graduates, while the 2027 Assembly election will involve a much broader electorate.
For Akhilesh Yadav, the immediate challenge will be to convert the momentum from these victories into wider organisational gains. For the BJP, the results underline the need to address local concerns while defending its position across the state.
