A total of 152 candidates will contest 11 Uttar Pradesh legislative council seats on Friday. The BJP and SP face tough challenges from many rebel and independent candidates across these constituencies. These polls are significant as they come ahead of the 2027 assembly elections, with voters choosing their preferred representatives today.
A total of 152 candidates will contest 11 Uttar Pradesh legislative council seats, comprising five graduates' and six teachers' constituencies, on Friday, with the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) facing challenges from rebel and independent candidates across several seats. The SP has fielded two BJP rebels to capitalise on discontent within the ruling party, with the council polls coming ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.
The SP has fielded BJP rebel Sanjayan Tripathi from the Gorakhpur-Faizabad teachers' constituency and Akash Agarwal from the Agra graduates' constituency, seeking to capitalise on discontent within the ruling party.
The political stakes are reflected in chief minister Yogi Adityanath's campaign for BJP candidates across constituencies. Though the elections cover 11 council seats, the outcome comes ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, scheduled for February-March.
The five graduates' constituencies are Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut and Allahabad-Jhansi. The six teachers' constituencies are Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Bareilly-Moradabad and Gorakhpur-Faizabad.
Among the graduates' constituencies, Varanasi has the highest number of candidates at 24, followed by Lucknow with 16, Agra and Allahabad-Jhansi with 13 each, and Meerut with eight. Among the teachers' constituencies, Bareilly-Moradabad has 17 candidates, followed by Gorakhpur-Faizabad with 16, Lucknow with 13, Agra with 12, and Varanasi and Meerut with 10 each.
Lucknow graduates' constituency has the largest electorate at 3,13,531, followed by Varanasi with 2,88,622 and Allahabad-Jhansi with 2,64,233 voters.
Polling will be held from 8 am to 4 pm at 2,697 polling stations across 72 districts, excluding Kanpur Nagar, Kanpur Dehat and Unnao. A total of 14,81,310 voters are eligible to cast their votes. The Election Commission has deployed 12,309 polling personnel for the elections.
Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer Navdeep Rinwa said the Election Commission of India (ECI) had deployed 11 observers to monitor polling. In addition, 1,041 sector magistrates and 456 zonal magistrates have been deployed. Micro-observers and videography arrangements have also been made at polling stations.
Security arrangements have been put in place to ensure peaceful polling.
Voters must present their voter photo identity cards to establish their identity. Those unable to produce the card can use alternative documents approved by the ECI, Rinwa said.
Voting will be conducted under the proportional representation system through the single transferable vote. Voters must indicate their preferences numerically, with '1' mandatory for their first choice.