Lucknow. Counting of votes for 11 seats of graduate and teacher quota of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council started from 8 am on Tuesday. Counting of votes is being done at the designated counting centers in seven districts under the direction of the Returning Officer and under the supervision of observers. In these elections, political parties are eyeing the contest between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party (SP).
These results are also considered important from the point of view of political influence of both the parties before the 2027 assembly elections. Voting was conducted for a total of 14,81,310 voters in these elections in five graduate and six teacher constituencies of the state. Counting of votes is taking place in Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Jhansi, Bareilly and Gorakhpur. Instructions have been given to ensure necessary arrangements including security, CCTV surveillance, videography and uninterrupted power supply during the counting of votes.
Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa has instructed the concerned returning officers to conduct the counting of votes in a fair, peaceful and transparent manner. It has been asked to deploy adequate security forces at the counting centres, ban the entry of unauthorized persons and make arrangements for trained personnel. In these Legislative Council elections, counting of votes may take more time due to the system of proportional representation under the single transferable vote system.
There is a contest between BJP’s Avnish Kumar Singh and SP’s Kanti Singh in Lucknow Graduate constituency. This seat is considered politically important for both the parties. SP President Akhilesh Yadav had also campaigned in support of Kanti Singh. Kanti Singh’s husband Dr. SP Singh has been a Legislative Council member from this seat.
In Gorakhpur-Faizabad teachers constituency, there is a contest between BJP’s Dhruv Tripathi and SP’s Dr. Sanjayan Tripathi. Sanjayan Tripathi has been associated with BJP and later SP made him its candidate. At the same time, in Meerut, the contest between BJP’s Dinesh Goyal and SP’s Pramendra Bhati is in focus. This seat has its own political importance in western Uttar Pradesh.
In Lucknow, the counting of votes for the graduate constituency is taking place in hall number seven of the Ramabai rally venue and the counting of votes for the teacher constituency is taking place in hall number eight. The counting of votes for graduate and teacher seats respectively is being done in hall number one and two of the State Warehouse Corporation in Varanasi. Counting of votes is taking place in hall number one and two located at New Agricultural Production Market Committee, Tundla Road in Agra. Hall-B has been earmarked for graduate seats and Hall-A for teacher seats in the Gandhi Hall building of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Modipuram in Meerut.
The counting of votes of Allahabad-Jhansi graduate constituency is being conducted in hall number one of Kothari Hall of Bundelkhand Degree College, Jhansi, the counting of votes of Bareilly-Moradabad teacher constituency is being conducted in Sanjay Community Hall of Bareilly and the counting of votes of Gorakhpur-Faizabad teacher constituency is being conducted in hall number one and two of Commerce Building of Gorakhpur University.