New Delhi: The Congress suffered a major setback in the Legislative Council (MLC) elections held across four states—Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra—failing to secure even one seat in the contests for 28 constituencies.
The elections, in which graduates and teachers vote, were held earlier this week and results were declared on Wednesday. While the BJP is in power in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra, Karnataka is currently ruled by the Congress.
In Karnataka, the BJP-led JD(S) alliance swept all four vacant Council constituencies, dealing a blow to the ruling party despite an intensive campaign led by Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and his ministers. A key result came from the Bengaluru Teachers’ constituency, where JD(S) candidate Ranganath defeated sitting Congress MLC Puttanna by 908 votes.
In another closely watched contest, BJP’s Shashil Namoshi won the North-East Teachers’ constituency, which includes Kalaburagi—associated with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. The outcome, while not posing an immediate threat to the state government, has energised the BJP-JD(S) combine.
In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP retained Meerut, Bareilly and Lucknow, while the Samajwadi Party won the Varanasi and Agra Teachers’ constituencies. In Bihar, the RJD captured the Patna Teachers’ seat by defeating BJP’s sitting member Nawal Kishore Yadav, though the BJP won the Tirhut seat and Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj party also registered a win; counting in graduate constituencies was still under way. In Maharashtra, the ruling Mahayuti alliance was reported to be leading in the five-seat contest.
