Those speaking of ‘double-engine’ handed ‘double defeat’ in Varanasi: Akhilesh Yadav on MLC elections

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], October 30 (ANI): Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday claimed that the recent win of the Samajwadi Party (SP) in five MLC seats in Uttar Pradesh is a sign of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) facing a ‘massive defeat in the upcoming 2027 Assembly elections. 
The SP chief also claimed that while his party won the five MLC seats through “sheer strength”, the BJP instead won their share of 6 seats with ‘deceit’. 
“The 5 seats we won were secured through sheer strength. The 6 seats the BJP won were secured through deceit,” the SP chief said. 
Invoking his PDA pitch, Pichde, Dalit, Alpsankhyak (Backward classes, Dalits, and Minorities), the SP chief claimed that the BJP-led government has snatched away reservation, betrayed the devotees of Ram, and shut down thousands of schools. 
“The very day the elections are announced, the BJP will effectively lose. They have shut down 26,000 schools—and what are they opening instead? 27,000 liquor shops! If it were up to them, they would open liquor shops inside primary schools too,” Yadav said. 
Yadav said that SP’s win in Varanasi Teachers’ and Agra-Aligarh Teachers’ constituencies is a sign of teachers rejecting the BJP due to the closing down of schools. 
The BJP won six of the 11 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council seats, while the Samajwadi Party secured five. The BJP won the Agra Graduates’, Bareilly-Moradabad Teachers’, Lucknow Teachers’, Meerut Teachers’, Meerut Graduates’ and Gorakhpur-Faizabad Teachers’ constituencies. The Samajwadi Party won the Allahabad-Jhansi Graduates’, Varanasi Teachers’ and Agra-Aligarh Teachers’ constituencies.
The SP chief also extended support to the upcoming INDIA-bloc rally at Ramlila Maidan on November 1, with party workers set to join the upcoming mega-rally against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in large numbers, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Addressing a press conference here in Lucknow, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “We will all participate in the rally against Gyanesh Kumar”. 
However, the proposed mock public impeachment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar has been postponed due to rain today. 
Speaking to reporters in the national capital, Rahul Gandhi said the decision was taken by consensus, keeping in mind the discomfort senior leaders could face while sitting in the rain.
Ahead of the event, INDIA bloc leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, party leader Pawan Khera, General Secretary KC Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh, had started arriving at Kharge's residence for a meeting. (ANI)