MLC Polls: Congress Wins Zero of 28 Seats, Hit in Karnataka

The Congress failed to win any of the 28 Legislative Council seats contested across four states. The BJP-JD(S) sweep in Karnataka is the biggest setback for the party, which rules the state.

New Delhi: The Congress has drawn a blank in the Legislative Council (MLC) elections held across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka. It failed to win any of the 28 seats contested, and the sharpest blow came in Karnataka, where it governs.

Polling for the teachers’ and graduates’ constituencies took place on October 23, and counting began on October 27. The 28 seats are spread across Uttar Pradesh (11), Bihar (8), Karnataka (4) and Maharashtra (5).

Karnataka: a clean sweep for the alliance

The BJP-JD(S) alliance won all four Legislative Council seats in the two teachers’ and two graduates’ constituencies. The BJP took three and the JD(S) won the Bengaluru Teachers’ seat.

That seat is the one that stung. Sitting Congress MLC Puttanna lost to JD(S)’s A.P. Ranganath, who contested with BJP support. Puttanna had beaten Ranganath in a bypoll in February 2024, the first defeat for the BJP-JD(S) combine, so this was a reversal of that result. In the North-East Teachers’ seat, the BJP’s Shashil Namoshi defeated incumbent Congress MLC Sharanappa Mattur, and the BJP also won both graduates’ seats, including West Graduates through S.V. Sankanur.

The BJP and JD(S) are likely to present the results as evidence that their alliance works.

Uttar Pradesh: BJP ahead, SP picks up two

In UP, where counting covered five graduates’ and six teachers’ seats, the BJP won four seats, including the Meerut Graduates’, Meerut Teachers’, Bareilly-Moradabad Teachers’ and Lucknow Teachers’ constituencies. The Samajwadi Party won the Varanasi Teachers’ seat through Lal Bihari Yadav, and the Agra Teachers’ seat. No Congress win was reported.

Bihar: a fragmented outcome

Bihar’s results were more mixed. The BJP won the Tirhut Teachers’ seat and the Darbhanga Graduates’ seat; JD(U) won the Patna Graduates’ seat; and the RJD took the Patna Teachers’ seat. An independent won the Saran Teachers’ seat.

One result carried a message for the Congress. Jan Suraaj’s Suresh Prasad Rai won the Darbhanga Teachers’ seat by 324 votes, defeating sitting Congress MLC Madan Mohan Jha.

Maharashtra

Counting in Maharashtra’s five seats was still being reported when other results had come in, and no Congress win had been reported.

Why the ballot-paper angle matters

These elections are held on ballot papers, not electronic voting machines, which gives the result an extra political edge. The Congress has been campaigning on the streets against the Election Commission and alleged vote theft, and has pushed for ballot papers. BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari seized on the results, saying people reject the Congress regardless of whether voting is done on EVMs or ballot papers.

The Congress has not yet explained the results in the reports available at the time of writing.

What it means

Teachers’ and graduates’ constituencies are small, educated electorates, and they are not a guide to general elections. But for Congress they raise uncomfortable questions: it lost seats it held, it lost them in a state where it is in government, and it lost on the paper ballots it has championed. The party now has to work out whether the defeats reflect concerns among teachers and graduates or deeper organisational problems.