Lucknow: The Election Commission of India has announced the programme for biennial elections to fill 11 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, five from graduates’ constituencies and six from teachers’ constituencies. The terms of the sitting members end on December 6, 2026. According to the Commission’s schedule, the election notification will be issued on September 29, 2026.
Members whose terms are ending
| No. | Constituency | Sitting member |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucknow Graduates | Er. Avnish Kumar Singh |
| 2 | Varanasi Graduates | Ashutosh Sinha |
| 3 | Agra Graduates | Dr. Manvendra Pratap Singh ‘Guru Ji’ |
| 4 | Meerut Graduates | Dinesh Kumar Goyal |
| 5 | Allahabad-Jhansi Graduates | Dr. Man Singh Yadav |
| 6 | Lucknow Teachers | Umesh Dwivedi |
| 7 | Varanasi Teachers | Lal Bihari Yadav |
| 8 | Agra Teachers | Dr. Akash Agrawal (financeless teachers’ representative) |
| 9 | Meerut Teachers | Shrichand Sharma |
| 10 | Bareilly-Moradabad Teachers | Hari Singh Dhillon |
| 11 | Gorakhpur-Faizabad Teachers | Dhruv Kumar Tripathi |
Officials in charge
For the graduates’ constituencies of Lucknow, Meerut, Agra, Varanasi and Allahabad-Jhansi, the returning officers are the divisional commissioners of Lucknow, Meerut, Agra, Varanasi and Jhansi respectively. For the teachers’ constituencies of Lucknow, Meerut, Agra, Varanasi, Bareilly-Moradabad and Gorakhpur-Faizabad, they are the divisional commissioners of Lucknow, Meerut, Agra, Varanasi, Bareilly and Gorakhpur.
The Additional Commissioners (Administration) of these divisions, along with the District Magistrates of the districts in each constituency, have been notified as assistant returning officers. Nominations will be filed in Lucknow, Meerut, Agra, Varanasi, Bareilly, Jhansi and Gorakhpur.
On Monday, Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa trained the divisional commissioners and returning officers by video conference. The session covered the nomination process and the forms to be used, including Form 2E, Form 26 and the format of the oath.
Model Code of Conduct
The relevant provisions of the Model Code of Conduct apply in the constituencies going to the polls, in line with the Election Commission’s letter dated December 26, 2016.
Constituencies and the districts they cover
Graduates’ constituencies
- Lucknow: Lucknow, Hardoi, Kheri, Sitapur, Barabanki, Raebareli and Pratapgarh
- Varanasi: Ballia, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Varanasi, Chandauli, Bhadohi, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra
- Agra: Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Aligarh, Hathras, Etah, Mainpuri, Etawah, Kannauj, Auraiya, Farrukhabad and Kasganj
- Meerut: Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Shamli and Hapur
- Allahabad-Jhansi: Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Banda, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Jalaun, Jhansi and Lalitpur
Teachers’ constituencies
- Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra and Meerut: These cover the same districts as the graduates’ constituencies of the same names.
- Bareilly-Moradabad: Bareilly, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Budaun, Rampur, Moradabad, Amroha, Bijnor and Sambhal
- Gorakhpur-Faizabad: Bahraich, Shravasti, Gonda, Balrampur, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Deoria, Kushinagar, Azamgarh, Mau, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Amethi and Ambedkar Nagar
Nomination rules
Nomination papers for both graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies are filed in Form 2E. Candidates of political parties must also submit Forms A and B. The security deposit is Rs 10,000, reduced to Rs 5,000 for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates.
The number of proposers depends on the candidate’s affiliation. For a candidate put up by a recognised political party, the requirement is 10 per cent of the total electors or 10 electors, whichever is less. For any other candidate, 10 electors are needed. Every proposer must be a registered voter in the constituency.
Candidates contesting from these constituencies do not need to be graduates or teachers themselves. Council elections also do not involve election symbols.
How voting works
Legislative Council elections are held under the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. Voters mark their preferences against the names of candidates on the ballot paper. Preferences must be written in numerals (1, 2, 3 and so on) and not in words such as “one” or “two”.
For a vote to be valid, the voter must mark the figure “1” against one candidate as the first preference. Further preferences are optional. Voters mark the ballot with a uniform violet sketch pen, which the polling officer provides. The option of NOTA (None of the Above) does not apply in State Legislative Council elections.
In the constituencies where polling takes place, a dry day is declared, and special casual leave is announced for electors.
