Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) [India], October 27 (ANI): Vote counting for the Varanasi Teachers' and Graduates' Legislative Council (MLC) constituencies began on Tuesday under tight security, Varanasi District Magistrate and Collector Satyendra Kumar confirmed.
Providing an early update, the DM said the process is being conducted transparently in the presence of party representatives.
"The counting process for the Teachers' and Graduates' constituencies in Varanasi has begun. The entire procedure is being conducted in the presence of counting agents nominated by all the political parties, alongside our own counting personnel. The counting process is proceeding peacefully. The counting process has just started; ballot papers are currently being removed from the boxes and are being bundled together,” he told ANI.
In Uttar Pradesh, votes are being tallied for 11 high-stakes divisions—five graduate constituencies (Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Allahabad-Jhansi) and six teacher constituencies (Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Bareilly-Moradabad, Gorakhpur-Faizabad).
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pitted its candidates against Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP) across all 11 constituencies. Key BJP figures include Kedar Nath Singh (Varanasi Graduates), Dinesh Goel (Meerut Graduates), Ashok Kumar Rathore (Allahabad-Jhansi Graduates), and Dr. Pramod Mishra (Varanasi Teachers).
In Varanasi Graduates, incumbent BJP nominee Kedar Nath Singh faces intense competition from SP's Ashutosh Sinha.
The opposition SP strategically inducted and fielded denied ticket-seekers and former BJP leaders—most notably Dr. Sanjayan Tripathi in Gorakhpur-Faizabad Teachers and Akash Agarwal in Agra—to challenge official saffron nominees directly on their home turf. (ANI)
"Counting process is proceeding peacefully": Varanasi DM on high-stakes UP MLC polls
