UP MLC Election Result LIVE: BJP Loses in PM Modi's Kashi as SP's Lal Bihari Yadav Wins Varanasi Teachers' Seat

In the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP has again failed to win the teachers. Lal Bihari Yadav, the Samajwadi Party's sitting MLC and Leader of the Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, has retained the Varanasi Teachers' constituency, beating the BJP's Dr Pramod Mishra. He led from the first round of counting at the State Warehousing Corporation in Pahariya, and held on through the night as counting moved through the rounds.

The result makes Varanasi one of the Samajwadi Party's two bright spots on counting day — alongside Agra, where its candidate led — on a day when the BJP won both Meerut seats and was ahead in most others.

Varanasi Teachers' MLC result 2026 at a glance

The 2020 contest

In December 2020, Lal Bihari Yadav won this seat by just 936 votes in the final, 12th round — 7,766 to 6,830 for Pramod Kumar Mishra, who contested as an independent. The BJP's official candidate that year, sitting MLC Chet Narayan Singh, finished third. In 2026 the BJP's candidate was Dr Pramod Mishra, making this a straight BJP-SP fight — and the SP has held the seat again.

Since then, Lal Bihari Yadav has become the face of the SP in the Council: he has been Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council since July 2024, after an earlier short stint in the post in 2022.

Why this result matters

• Symbolism: Varanasi is the Prime Minister's own Lok Sabha seat. A BJP defeat among teachers there — for the second time in a row — will be cited by the opposition well beyond the Council.
• Teachers' issues: The SP's campaign among teachers focused on the old pension scheme and pay and honorarium for teachers in unaided institutions. A win here suggests those issues outweighed party loyalty for many teacher voters.
• The SP's position in the Council: Retaining the seat keeps the Leader of the Opposition in the House.

Counting day in Varanasi

• Morning: Three-layer security with drones and CCTV around the counting site; SP workers complain that some CCTV cameras are off, and the administration promises repairs and additional cameras.
• 10:49 am: District Magistrate Satyendra Kumar says ballots are being taken out of boxes and bundled for both seats in the presence of party agents.
• Early afternoon: Lal Bihari Yadav takes the lead in the first round.
• Evening: The SP remains ahead as the BJP wins both Meerut seats elsewhere.
• Night: Lal Bihari Yadav wins, as reported.

What about the Varanasi Graduates' seat?

The graduates' seat is a separate, bigger contest: 2,88,553 graduate electors, of whom 1,18,611 (41.11%) voted. The SP's sitting MLC Ashutosh Sinha, who won in 2020 with 26,335 votes to the BJP's Kedar Nath Singh's 22,685, faces Kedar Nath Singh again. No trend had been released on Tuesday night; with far more ballots to count, the result may come on Wednesday. Follow it on our graduates' results page.