The BJP won six of the 11 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections while the Samajwadi Party emerged victorious in five, including two seats in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi.The elections to 28 seats in Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh were held on October 23. NDA partners won 16 seats, the SP five, NCP (SP) two, and the Congress, RJD and the Jan Suraaj Party one each. Two Independent candidates were elected in Bihar.In Uttar Pradesh, SP candidates Ashutosh Sinha and Lal Bihari Yadav defeated the BJP’s Kedarnath Singh and Pramod Mishra in the Varanasi Graduates’ and Teachers’ constituencies, respectively. The BJP had lost both seats to the SP in 2020 as well.The defeat has revived questions within the BJP over candidate selection, internal dissent and its outreach to the specialised electorates of graduates and teachers. Sources said Kedarnath Singh remained uncertain about his candidature until the final day of filing nominations.In BJP’s stronghold of Nagpur, the Congress pulled off a surprise as its sitting MLC Abhijit Wanjari defeated the saffron party’s Sudhakar Kohale by 3,271 votes to retain the Graduates’ seat for a second consecutive term. The result came after a marathon counting process that lasted more than 40 hours.Nagpur houses the RSS headquarters, is the home city of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the Lok Sabha constituency of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.The BJP had faced internal dissent over Kohale’s candidature, with former MLA Anil Sole threatening to contest as an Independent before eventually withdrawing from the race.Bihar delivered another mixed verdict. The NDA won four of the eight seats, with the BJP securing three and ally JD(U) one. However, the BJP suffered a setback in the Patna Teachers’ constituency where its five-term MLC Nawal Kishore Yadav lost to RJD’s Dr Sanjeev Kumar.Jan Suraaj also opened its account in the Legislative Council, with its candidate defeating former Bihar Congress president Madan Mohan Jha in the Darbhanga Teachers’ constituency.The Patna Graduates’ constituency also exposed internal friction within the NDA. JD(U)’s Neeraj Kumar retained the seat despite open opposition from Mokama MLA Anant Singh, who backed Jan Suraaj’s Anuj Singh. Anant was subsequently expelled from the party for six months over “anti-party” activities.Congress-ruled Karnataka offered the BJP a significant boost, with the BJP-JD(S) alliance sweeping all four seats. The BJP won three seats, while the JD(S) secured the fourth.An analyst said the results showed that the NDA government’s incumbency and organisational strength alone could not guarantee victories for it. For the Opposition, the immediate takeaway was that the BJP remained vulnerable in constituencies carrying strong political symbolism, including Varanasi and Nagpur, the analyst said.The BJP, meanwhile, has initiated an internal review in Uttar Pradesh. State BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary said the party would analyse the results, while stressing that it had won six seats and increased its vote share. Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to attend the party’s state executive meeting in Lucknow on Friday, where organisational matters and electoral preparations for the 2027 Assembly elections are expected to be discussed.SP chief Akhilesh Yadav claimed his party’s performance in Uttar Pradesh had triggered an existential crisis within the BJP.The Congress, which managed to win just one seat, hit back at PM Modi over his taunt at the opposition party’s showing, saying he must stop trolling and sermonising others and focus on dealing with “back-breaking” inflation and private investment deficit. Modi had on Wednesday mocked the Congress after its dismal show despite the use of paper ballots, a key demand of opposition parties in their campaign against EVMs.Meanwhile, fissures emerged in Maharashtra’s BJP-NCP-Shiv Sena alliance with the partners indulging in allegations and counter-allegations over their performance as the ruling Mahayuti bloc bagged two seats compared to Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi’s three. The BJP accused ally Shiv Sena of non-cooperation and undermining the alliance.BJP leader and Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane said it should be seen whether there were any “Shakuni mamas” within the Mahayuti alliance. Shiv Sena leader Ravindra Dhangekar, a former MLA, demanded a change of guard, saying Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde should assume the top post from Fadnavis. (With PTI inputs)