Samajwadi Party gains ground in Uttar Pradesh council elections, challenging BJP in key constituencies
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The Samajwadi Party won five of 11 seats in Uttar Pradesh's recent legislative council elections, including victories in Lucknow and Varanasi, while the BJP retained a six-seat overall lead.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) secured five of the 11 seats contested in Uttar Pradesh's latest legislative council elections, a gain that the party says signals shifting voter sentiment ahead of the 2027 state assembly polls. The victories came in three graduates’ constituencies and two teachers’ constituencies, with wins in Lucknow and Varanasi—areas traditionally associated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The BJP remained the largest party overall, holding six seats, but lost the Lucknow graduates, Varanasi graduates and Varanasi teachers contests. SP candidates Maan Singh Yadav, Kanti Singh and Ashutosh Sinha defeated their BJP rivals by margins of 27,663, 17,127 and 19,932 votes respectively.
In a congratulatory message, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav described the result as a “double defeat” for the BJP’s “double-engine” government and linked the outcome to concerns among teachers, students and unemployed graduates. He asserted that the party’s PDA coalition of “Pichhda, Dalits, Alpsankhyak” now enjoys 95 percent support.
BJP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said the party will review its performance and candidate selection after the setbacks in Lucknow and Varanasi. The party retained seats in Meerut and Bareilly-Moradabad teachers’ constituencies, indicating that the council results did not constitute a uniform rejection of the ruling party.
Uttar Pradesh minister and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar suggested the results reflected the preferences of more literate voters rather than the broader electorate, acknowledging the BJP’s difficulty in winning over that segment. The SP plans to use the council victories to energise its organisation and boost its vote share in the upcoming 2027 assembly elections.