UP MLC Counting Begins for 11 Seats as SP Seeks Safeguards and Alleges Booth Capturing

Counting of votes for 11 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council was due to begin at 8 am on October 27, with 152 candidates in the running. Five of the seats are graduates' constituencies and six are teachers' constituencies.

The electorate was 14,81,310 registered voters, who cast ballots at 2,697 polling stations spread over 72 districts. Three districts, Kanpur Nagar, Kanpur Dehat and Unnao, were left out of the exercise. The principal contest is between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party, though independents and party rebels are also on the ballot. The result is being read closely as an early signal ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

On Monday, the day before counting, the Samajwadi Party went to the state's Chief Electoral Officer with a list of demands. The memorandum was submitted on the directions of party chief Akhilesh Yadav by SP state president Shyam Lal Pal. It asked that outsourced employees not be deployed on counting duty, and it called for a complete ban on violet-coloured sketch pens at counting centres. A party statement quoted Pal as saying outsourced staff should not be used for counting the votes for the 11 seats on October 27.

The party also asked that counting of the next round start only after the current round has been finished at every table and its result announced through loudspeakers, on the Election Commission's website and at the returning officer's table. It further sought high-quality CCTV cameras at every counting table and other key locations, so that proceedings are clearly recorded.

Two SP candidates sent their own representations. Lal Bihari Yadav, contesting the Varanasi teachers' seat, and Ashutosh Sinha, contesting the Varanasi graduates' seat, demanded that only government employees handle counting. They warned that they would oppose the process if outsourced personnel were appointed, and said they would hold the Election Commission of India responsible for any resulting situation. A letter from Kanti Singh, the SP candidate in the Lucknow graduates' constituency, was attached to the party's memorandum.

Also on Monday, repolling took place peacefully at three polling stations in the Agra teachers' constituency, after allegations of booth capturing during the October 23 voting. Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa put the combined turnout at the three stations at 57.16%. Station number 20, at the Tehsil Campus in Khairagarh, recorded 51.60%. Station number 21, at the Kshetra Panchayat Office in Saiyan, recorded 58.23%, and station number 26, at the Kshetra Panchayat Office in Fatehabad, recorded 58.65%.

The repoll followed a recommendation from the returning officer. The votes cast at those three stations on October 23 were declared void under Section 58A(2)(a) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

The SP had earlier gone to the Chief Electoral Officer alleging booth capturing and irregularities in several districts: Amroha, Agra, Fatehpur, Pratapgarh and Gorakhpur. Citing video recordings and complaints from candidates and parties, it asked for repolling at the affected stations and for FIRs against those responsible. It alleged that BJP ministers, MPs and MLAs influenced the voting and intimidated opposition supporters. Those allegations were made by the party during the October 23 polling and have not been independently established in the reporting. SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary accused the BJP of electoral malpractice and said the Election Commission had failed to act on complaints.

The Agra repoll is the one confirmed official remedy so far. Counting will show how the 11 seats fall, and whether the SP's complaints about the process continue once results are announced.