UP MLC Elections 2026: Campaigning for 11 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council seats representing graduate and teachers’ constituencies ended on Wednesday. Polling will take place on October 23, while votes will be counted on October 27. Voting will be conducted using ballot papers, and only eligible graduates and teachers registered on the electoral rolls of their respective constituencies will be allowed to vote. With the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections approaching, the contest is being viewed as an important political test for both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP).

Five Graduate and Six Teachers’ Constituencies Go to Polls
Of the 11 seats, five belong to graduate constituencies and six to teachers’ constituencies. The graduate constituencies are Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut and Allahabad-Jhansi. The teachers’ constituencies include Lucknow, Agra, Varanasi, Meerut, Bareilly-Moradabad and Gorakhpur-Faizabad. These constituencies cover all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh. However, voting rights are restricted to eligible graduates and teachers whose names appear on the relevant electoral rolls.

BJP and SP Candidates Face Off in Key Constituencies
The elections feature direct contests between BJP and SP candidates in several constituencies. In Lucknow, BJP candidate Umesh Dwivedi is facing SP’s Sushil Kumar Patel. In Meerut-Ghaziabad, the contest is between BJP’s Shrichand Sharma and SP’s Nitin Kumar Tomar. BJP candidate Dr Harisingh Dhillon is contesting against Haji Mohammad Danish Akhtar of the SP in Bareilly-Moradabad. In Varanasi, BJP’s Dr Pramod Mishra faces SP candidate Lal Bihari Yadav, while Agra-Aligarh has BJP’s Hari Kishore Tiwari competing against SP’s Dr Prakash Chand Gupta. In Gorakhpur-Faizabad, BJP candidate Dhruv Tripathi is facing Dr Sanjay Tripathi, who is contesting after breaking away from the BJP.

Yogi Adityanath and Akhilesh Yadav Lead Campaigns
Both parties stepped up their campaigns in the final days before polling. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath canvassed for BJP candidates in several areas, including Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Agra, Mirzapur and Bareilly. Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, along with other ministers and legislators, also participated in the campaign. The SP similarly mobilised its leaders and workers to support its candidates. In the previous election, the SP won six of these 11 seats, while the BJP secured five.

Akhilesh Yadav Accuses BJP of Pressuring Voters
Before campaigning ended, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP government of attempting to influence the election through unfair means and financial power. He also alleged that threats involving the cancellation of school recognition were being used to put pressure on teachers and graduate voters ahead of polling. Yadav urged voters to support SP candidates and criticised Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. These claims are allegations made by the SP leader and have not been independently established in the information provided. The results on October 27 will reveal how the BJP and SP have performed in this closely watched contest.