BJP Candidate Accepts Defeat in Varanasi MLC Graduate Poll
Lucknow, October 29: The Bharatiya Janata Party is facing a likely defeat in the Varanasi graduate seat of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections. The contest is being viewed as a semifinal of political strength before the state assembly elections, and the outcome has drawn considerable attention.
Counting continued on Thursday, the third day of the process, without a declared result for the seat. However, Samajwadi Party candidate Ashutosh Sinha has steadily increased his lead. By the ninth round, he was clearly ahead, and his victory is now widely considered almost certain.
BJP candidate Kedarnath Singh has acknowledged the verdict. In a social media statement, he thanked graduate voters of the Varanasi division and said he had not been able to achieve the expected success. He said he accepts the mandate with complete humility and in keeping with democratic values.
Singh also thanked party functionaries, workers, supporters and well-wishers. He stated that success and failure are part of the democratic process and that commitment to public service is not dependent on any outcome.
The official process, however, is not yet complete. The final result and the certificate of victory must still be issued. Counting started at 8 am on Tuesday. By Wednesday evening, results had been announced for 10 of the 11 seats, but the Varanasi graduate seat remained incomplete.
Tension at the counting centre grew on Wednesday evening and continued late into the night. Singh sat on a dharna and accused counting observer Pranjal Yadav of engineering irregularities. He demanded that the observer be removed. These charges were raised by the BJP candidate.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav asked party workers to remain at the counting centre. More than 500 SP workers stayed there overnight. On X, he requested workers to arrange food, water, umbrellas and towels, and to stay at the centre until they received the certificate of victory. He also urged them to support each other and keep their morale high.
Yadav further advised workers to stay alert while monitoring the count, warning that carelessness could lead to accidents.
Sujeet Yadav, the SP district president, praised party leaders and workers for winning voter support through hard work. He congratulated them and said that if the same trend continued, the SP would form the government in the state in 2027. He accused the BJP candidate of searching for excuses after the defeat and said the SP did not want to respond at anyone's level because its goal was to form the government.
Both council seats in the Varanasi division have previously been held by the SP. Sinha's advance in the graduate seat has increased the political challenge for the BJP.
Uttar Pradesh minister Suresh Khanna said the BJP and the National Democratic Alliance had won six candidates, while the declared results gave four seats to the SP. He said the SP should not be too enthusiastic about the results, since the personal influence and efforts of candidates had played an important role in several seats.
Congress leader Ajay Rai criticised the reaction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the results. He said the Congress had not contested the election in Uttar Pradesh and asserted that the political influence of the BJP and Modi was set to fall.
Man Singh Yadav, the newly elected SP MLC from Kaushambi, credited voters and party president Akhilesh Yadav's policies for his win. He alleged that voters were influenced in several ways during the polls and that SP supporters were harassed at some locations.
SP spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan Chand also claimed that the BJP faced defeat in elections conducted through ballot papers and that the administration was misused in some places to affect the results. Responses from the concerned parties to these allegations are still awaited.
The final position of the Varanasi graduate seat will be clear only after counting ends and the official result is declared. For now, the BJP candidate's social media message and the SP candidate's wide lead have made the contest a major subject of discussion in state politics.