Daijiworld Media Network - Lucknow
Lucknow, Oct 29: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday described the Bharatiya Janata Party's performance in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections as a “double defeat” and claimed that the results had laid the groundwork for his party's victory in the 2027 Assembly elections.
In a post on X, Yadav said the BJP lost the Varanasi Graduates' Constituency during both the initial counting and the subsequent recounting. He described the outcome as a “double defeat of the double-engine government”, taking a swipe at the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh.
“Dear voters, the BJP has turned into a 'flop show'. The BJP folks lost in Varanasi in the first 'counting', then lost again in the re-'re-counting', meaning the votes were counted twice and both times the BJP and their allies lost. This is the double loss of the double engine,” Yadav wrote.
Elections were held for 11 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, comprising five Graduates' constituencies and six Teachers' constituencies. The biennial polls were viewed as an important political test ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections. The BJP won six seats, while the Samajwadi Party secured five.
Linking the results to the upcoming Assembly elections, Yadav said the BJP's performance had set the stage for a change in government in Uttar Pradesh. He accused the ruling party of pursuing policies that had adversely affected teachers, students and the education sector, adding that educated unemployed graduates had also expressed their dissatisfaction through their votes.
“The BJP's defeat in the Legislative Council elections has written the preface to the UP Assembly elections to be held in 2027,” he said.
Yadav also claimed that his party's PDA (Pichhde, Dalit, Alpasankhyak) social coalition, representing backward classes, Dalits and minorities, had expanded its support base to 95 per cent. He alleged that the BJP's treatment of different communities had brought together sections of society that felt marginalised.
“The way the BJP has made every community 'victimised, miserable, humiliated' has brought all the oppressed together. The PDA's mass base has now reached 95%, because 'those who are victimised, they are PDA'!” he said.
The SP chief also alleged irregularities in the seats won by the BJP, claiming that some victories had been secured through manipulation. These allegations were made by Yadav in his statement.
“This has sparked an existential crisis within the BJP, because everyone inside the BJP knows that even the seats the BJP has won were won through tampering,” he alleged, while also claiming that internal differences within the ruling party had intensified.
Taking a further dig at the BJP, Yadav said the party was struggling to identify suitable candidates for the next Assembly elections. He claimed that a party which had previously conducted surveys to select candidates was now finding it difficult to identify potential nominees.
Yadav thanked teachers and young voters for supporting Samajwadi Party candidates and helping monitor the counting process. He said party workers and its PDA sentinels had remained at counting centres until the election certificates were issued.
Congratulating the winning candidates, Yadav also extended his wishes to those who, he alleged, had been defeated because of electoral manipulation.
“In fact, none of our candidates has lost; they just couldn't win in the face of BJP's tampering. We equally honour them as well. For us, they are all winners even without certificates,” he said.
Yadav added that the vigilance and unity demonstrated during the council elections would form the foundation for the Samajwadi Party's campaign to return to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2027. He thanked voters for their support and expressed confidence that the party would build on the results in the coming Assembly elections.