NDA wins 16 of 28 seats, Congress falters in MLC polls

File photo: BJP leaders celebrate after winning four seats in the Karnataka Legislative Council (MLC) polls, in Hubballi.

BJP-led NDA won 16 of 28 seats in MLC polls held across four states, sweeping all four Karnataka legislative council constituencies, dealing a setback to Congress. Bihar and Maharashtra delivered split verdicts, while BJP led in UP as counting of paper ballots continued from Tuesday till late Wednesday.In Karnataka, JD(S) wrested Bengaluru teachers from Congress, while BJP won North East teachers, West graduates and South East graduates. D K Shivakumar, facing his first polls as CM, said Congress would take corrective measures. “We respect the verdict. We had expected two seats, but that did not happen,” he said.Congress had demanded a return to ballot papers.

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But results suggested its setbacks stemmed from organisational weaknesses.

Party insiders said 19 ministers assigned to oversee 133 assembly segments failed to deliver, amid growing internal differences. BJP and JD(S) coordinated more closely than in previous polls.In Bihar, NDA won four of eight seats, while RJD and Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj won one each. Independents took the remaining two. All four sitting teachers’ constituency MLCs lost, while incumbents retained all four graduates’ seats.

RJD-backed Sanjeev Kumar defeated BJP veteran Nawal Yadav, a five-term MLC who had held Patna teachers for three decades. Jan Suraaj’s Suresh Prasad Rai defeated former Bihar Congress chief Madan Mohan Jha by 324 votes in Darbhanga teachers, giving Kishor’s party its first council seat and ending CPI’s lone representation.In UP, BJP won six seats and SP three among nine seats declared by Wednesday evening. Counting continued in Lucknow and Varanasi graduates’ constituencies.

Independent Dhruv Tripathi, who later joined BJP, won Gorakhpur-Faizabad teachers for a fourth consecutive term, defeating Independent Rajiv Yadav by 307 votes.Maharashtra’s five MLC seats were closely contested between Mahayuti and opposition alliance MVA, with both winning two each. Among Mahayuti’s victories, BJP candidate Kaustubh Gawade won Pune teachers, while Sena’s Kiran Sarnaik took Amravati teachers.

Sharad Pawar’s NCP-SP won two.In Nagpur, outcome remained uncertain after over 40 hours of counting, with BJP’s Sudhakar Kohale and Congress’s Abhijeet Wanjari trading leads through the day.State Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal said: “Our party contested three seats and made every effort to win. A large number of votes were declared invalid, which is a matter of concern.”