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Voting for 11 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council was held on Friday in an election being viewed as a prestige battle between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP).
According to official data, voter turnout stood at 55.24% till 4 pm. The Gorakhpur-Faizabad teachers’ constituency recorded the highest turnout at 79.01%, followed by Bareilly-Moradabad at 73.69% and Varanasi at 68.21%.
Among the other teachers’ constituencies, turnout was 63.84% in Agra, 60.80% in Meerut and 50.92% in Lucknow.
In the five graduate constituencies, Agra recorded the highest turnout at 51%, followed by Allahabad-Jhansi at 41.40%, Varanasi at 41.01%, Meerut at 39.81% and Lucknow at 38.02%.
UP Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said voting took place across 72 of the state’s 75 districts, with Unnao, Kanpur and Kanpur Dehat excluded from the polling.
The polling was largely peaceful, but incidents involving supporters of the BJP and SP were reported in some areas.
In Gorakhpur, BJP and SP workers clashed at DAV Degree College, with both sides accusing each other of attempting to influence the polling process. Workers from the two sides were seen pushing and shoving in the presence of SP candidate Dr Sanjayan Tripathi.
In Fatehpur, supporters of candidates allegedly affiliated with the BJP and SP clashed outside a polling centre at Vijayipur block over allegations of booth capturing and forced voting.
Superintendent of Police Abhimanyu Manglik said police intervened and brought the situation under control. He described the incident as a minor scuffle and said polling was not disrupted. Voting continued peacefully, and an investigation was underway.
A video of the Fatehpur incident surfaced on social media, but the allegation of forced voting could not be independently verified.
Political tensions were also visible in Lucknow, Ballia and Sitapur, where hoardings targeting SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and other party leaders appeared on polling day.
Some of the posters depicted Yadav wearing a skullcap alongside slain gangster Atiq Ahmed and jailed leader Azam Khan, while others targeted members of his family.
SP workers removed some of the hoardings, alleging that the BJP was attempting to influence voters and create tension during polling.
Police said no one had claimed responsibility for the hoardings in Ballia and that an investigation was underway.
After casting his vote at the district council office in Orai for the Allahabad-Jhansi graduate constituency, Uttar Pradesh Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh expressed confidence that the BJP would win all 11 seats.
He attributed the expected outcome to the work of the Narendra Modi-led central government and the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh.
In Lucknow, 259 polling booths were set up, with more than 1.16 lakh registered voters eligible to cast their ballots.
The elections were conducted using ballot papers rather than electronic voting machines (EVMs).
The five graduate constituencies are Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut and Allahabad-Jhansi. The six teachers’ constituencies are Lucknow, Agra, Varanasi, Meerut, Bareilly-Moradabad and Gorakhpur-Faizabad.
The elections were necessitated by the expiry of the terms of the sitting members from these constituencies on December 6.
A graduate constituency comprises voters who are graduates of a recognised Indian university or possess an equivalent qualification. Teachers’ constituencies, meanwhile, comprise eligible full-time teachers who have taught at the required level for at least three years during the preceding six years.
Schools from nursery to Class 12 were closed in several districts for polling, while colleges, universities and other higher educational institutions were shut in some areas. The institutions are scheduled to reopen on Saturday.
Counting of votes will take place on October 27.