The first declared results of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council (MLC) elections landed by midnight on Tuesday, with five of the state's 11 seats decided and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning four of them against one for the Samajwadi Party (SP), according to results reporting. Counting continued on the remaining six seats.
Source: The Daily Jagran
In Meerut, the BJP won both seats at stake. Dinesh Goyal won the Meerut graduates' constituency and Shrichand Sharma won the Meerut teachers' constituency, according to reports citing the Hindustan Times. The Times of India, cited in the same live coverage, also reported a BJP victory on both Meerut seats, while noting that formal official confirmation was still awaited.
Source: Inshorts (Hindustan Times)
Reports said the BJP's other two wins in the first batch were the Bareilly teachers' seat and a Lucknow graduates' seat, taking its tally to four of the five seats declared by midnight.
Source: TezzBuzz (Yes Punjab News)
The SP's win came in Varanasi, where its candidate Lal Bihari Yadav, the sitting MLC, claimed victory in the teachers' constituency. The Hindustan Times' live coverage also reported an SP win in Varanasi. Yadav's rival was the BJP's Dr Pramod Kumar Mishra.
Source: The Daily Jagran
Counting continues on six seats
Votes were counted on Tuesday for all 11 Uttar Pradesh council seats — five graduates' constituencies (Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut and Allahabad-Jhansi) and six teachers' constituencies (Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Bareilly-Moradabad and Gorakhpur-Faizabad). A total of 152 candidates were in the fray, and the elections recorded a turnout of 55.24 per cent among 14,81,310 eligible voters.
Source: Jagran Josh
Counting was held under tight security at centres including the Ramabai Rally Ground in Lucknow, the State Warehouse Corporation premises in Varanasi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Agricultural University in Meerut. In Varanasi, District Magistrate Satyendra Kumar said counting was proceeding peacefully and transparently in the presence of party representatives, and officials said drones and CCTV cameras were being used to monitor the centres.
Source: ANI via Devdiscourse
Allegations over the count
SP president Akhilesh Yadav alleged that officials in Lucknow had failed to provide round-wise counting updates through the day and drew attention to a video that purportedly showed BJP workers creating a ruckus at a counting centre — allegations the Election Commission and the administration have not publicly answered in the reports cited here. Yadav also alleged that counting was stopped in the Agra teachers' constituency, where SP candidate Aakash Agarwal was reported to be leading the BJP's Hari Kishor Tiwari by 691 votes in the latest trends.
Source: The Daily Jagran
Because these council elections use preferential voting on paper ballots, later rounds of counting can change early trends, and several of the reported wins were still awaiting formal declaration by returning officers. Results on the remaining six seats were expected as counting continued.