SP snatches two seats from BJP in legislative council polls in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi

BJP has lost two seats in Varanasi constituency to Samajwadi Party (SP) where Legislative Council Elections were held earlier this week. Both seats - one reserved for teachers and or for graduates - were won by Samajwadi Party candidates Ashutosh Sinha and Lal Bihari Yadav. 

In PM Modi's parliamentary constituency Varanasi,  party has lost two seats in legislative council elections after a gap of 10 years. Legislative Council Elections were held for a total of 11 seats (six teachers’ constituencies and five graduates’ constituencies) across Uttar Pradesh on December 1. 

UP MLC polls: BJP, SP win two seats each

Overall,  Samajwadi Party (SP) and BJP bagged two seats each in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council election to Graduates' constituencies, while counting of votes was underway on one seat. 

BJP candidates Manvendra Pratap Singh 'Guru Ji' won Agra Division Graduates' seat and Dinesh Goyal won Meerut Graduates' seat, while SP's Ashutosh Sinha won Varanasi Division Graduates' seat and Maan Singh Yadav won from Allahabad-Jhansi Division Graduates' seat, election office said.

While SP has wrested Varanasi and Allahabad-Jhansi seats from BJP, it lost Agra seat to saffron party. On Friday, results for six teachers' constituency seats were declared of which three were taken by BJP, one by SP and two by independents.

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BJP's Umesh Dwivedi, Shrishchandra Sharma and Hari Singh Dhillon were declared winners from Luckw, Meerut and Bareilly-Moradabad teachers' constituencies respectively. SP candidates Lal Bihari Yadav won from Varanasi teachers' constituency, and independents Akash Agarwal and Dhruv Kumar Tripathi won from Agra and Faizabad teachers' constituencies respectively.  term of office of MLCs from se constituencies had expired on May 6.

Polling stood at 55.47% as voters exercised ir franchise in election for 11 seats of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council on Tuesday, state election commission had said.

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(With ncy inputs)