UP MLC polls: BJP wins 3 seats, SP 1 in initial results

The ruling BJP won three of the six Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council seats for which results were announced initially on Friday.

Altogether, polling was held on 11 seats reserved for graduates and teachers in the biennial elections.

The BJP on Friday won a maximum of three of these seats, Samajwadi Party one, and Independent candidates bagged the remaining two.

The results for the remaining five seats were expected later in the day,

BJP's Umesh Dwivedi, Shrishchandra Sharma and Hari Singh Dhillon were declared winners from Lucknow, Meerut and Bareilly-Moradabad teachers' constituencies, respectively, an official statement issued here said.

SP candidate Lal Bihari Yadav won from Varanasi teachers' constituency, while Independents Akash Agarwal and Dhruv Kumar Tripathi won from Agra and Faizabad teachers' constituencies, respectively, it said.

The counting for the 11 seats started on Thursday and the results of the remaining are likely to be announced by Friday evening, officials said.

The voting for the 11 seats was held on December 1 and a total of 199 candidates were in the fray.

The BJP, SP, Congress and teachers' associations contested the polls.

Of the 11 seats, five are graduates' constituencies and six teachers' constituencies.

The term of office of the MLCs from these constituencies expired on May 6.