NEW DELHI – Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a sharp jab at the Congress party following the results of the Legislative Council (MLC) elections across four key states, pointing out that the opposition party failed to win a single seat despite voting being conducted via traditional ballot papers.
Addressing the outcome of the elections held for 28 MLC seats across Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Karnataka, the Prime Minister noted that Congress previously held four of these seats but lost all of them. “Elections were held using paper ballots. Guess how many seats Congress won?” Modi quipped in a post on X.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 11 seats, while its allies, the Janata Dal (United) and Janata Dal (Secular), won one seat each. The results have provided fresh political ammunition to the BJP to counter the opposition’s long-standing narrative that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are manipulated to favor the ruling party.
In Uttar Pradesh, results for 11 seats in the teacher and graduate constituencies showed a primary contest between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party (SP). The BJP secured victories in 6 seats, while the SP claimed 3.
The highlight of the state elections was the Gorakhpur-Faizabad teacher constituency, where BJP candidate Dhruv Kumar Tripathi clinched a fourth consecutive term in a photo-finish victory. Tripathi edged out Independent candidate Rajeev Yadav by a razor-thin margin of just 307 votes after a prolonged counting process.
Yadav and his supporters raised concerns over the counting process, alleging irregularities in the final tally. However, election authorities confirmed the result, finalizing the BJP’s sweep in key constituencies.
