The MVA won three of five Maharashtra Legislative Council seats, while the Mahayuti secured two.
In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP won six of 11 seats, while the Samajwadi Party secured five.
Akhilesh Yadav alleged manipulation in BJP-won seats and said the results signalled trouble for the ruling party ahead of the 2027 Assembly polls.
Opposition leaders on Thursday targeted the BJP and its allies over the results of the Legislative Council elections in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) criticising the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, while Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav described the BJP’s performance in Uttar Pradesh as a “double defeat”.
In Maharashtra, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won three of the five graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies that went to the polls, while the BJP-led Mahayuti secured two seats. In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP won six of the 11 seats in the biennial Legislative Council elections, while the Samajwadi Party (SP) won five.
The results prompted opposition leaders to question the BJP’s political position ahead of upcoming Assembly elections, with Yadav claiming that the Uttar Pradesh results had laid the groundwork for an SP government in 2027.
Opposition Targets Mahayuti In Maharashtra
Congress leader Sachin Sawant said the Mahayuti’s “arrogance of power” had been swept away in the Maharashtra MLC polls, despite what he described as a “huge influx of money”.
“Varanasi and now Nagpur… hit hard, but hit solidly by entering their home!” Sawant said in a post on X, referring to the Opposition’s performance in the two states. The SP won the Varanasi graduates’ constituency in Uttar Pradesh, while the Congress secured the Nagpur division graduates’ seat in Maharashtra.
Nationalist Congress Party (SP) national spokesperson Clyde Crasto also criticised the ruling alliance after the Sharad Pawar-led party won two council seats in the October 23 polls.
“Arrogance and overconfidence caused (Chief Minister) Mr Devendra Fadnavis and Mahayuti grave embarrassment,” Crasto said in a post on X.
He also pointed out that the MLC elections were conducted using ballot papers.
The five Maharashtra constituencies that went to the polls were Pune graduates’, Nagpur graduates’, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar graduates’, Pune teachers’ and Amravati teachers’ constituencies. The MVA’s three-seat tally gave the Opposition an opportunity to target the ruling alliance over its performance.
Akhilesh Calls UP Results ‘Double Defeat’
In Uttar Pradesh, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav described the BJP’s performance as a “double defeat” of the “double engine government”, referring to the party’s loss in the Varanasi graduates’ constituency during both the initial counting and the recounting.
In a post on X on Thursday, October 29, Yadav said the results had laid the foundation for the SP’s victory in the 2027 Assembly elections.
He described the BJP’s defeat as a rejection of its policies concerning teachers, students and education. He also said educated unemployed graduates had delivered their verdict against the ruling party.
Yadav alleged that the BJP had caused distress and humiliation across social groups, bringing together those who felt aggrieved. He claimed that the SP’s PDA (Pichhde, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) social coalition had expanded its support base to 95%, arguing that those who felt aggrieved were part of the coalition.
SP Alleges Manipulation, BJP Faces Internal Rifts
Yadav also alleged irregularities in the seats won by the BJP, claiming that the party had secured victories through tampering. He said the results had triggered an existential crisis within the BJP and that internal divisions had further intensified tensions between the two “engines” of the government.
Taking a swipe at the BJP over candidate selection for the 2027 Assembly elections, Yadav said the party, which had previously conducted surveys to identify candidates, was now searching for them “with binoculars”.
“The BJP’s ticket window is empty,” he said.
Thanking teachers and young voters for supporting SP candidates, Yadav said they had helped monitor the counting process alongside the party’s “PDA sentinels” and remained present until election certificates were issued.
He congratulated the winning candidates as well as those he claimed had been defeated through manipulation and fraud. “None of our candidates has actually lost; they just could not win in the face of the BJP’s manipulation,” he said, adding that the party considered them winners even without certificates.
Yadav said the alertness and unity demonstrated by voters during the MLC elections would provide the “decisive foundation” for an SP government in Uttar Pradesh in 2027.
