Opposition Alliance Sweeps Karnataka Council Elections as Congress Suffers Multi-State Defeats

An alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular) swept all four legislative council seats in Karnataka on Wednesday, shutting out the state's ruling Congress party.

In the Bengaluru Teachers' seat, Janata Dal (Secular) candidate A. P. Ranganath defeated five-time lawmaker Puttanna by 908 votes, receiving 10,810 votes to the incumbent's 9,902, according to The Times of India.

The losses dealt a blow to Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar, who campaigned actively across Karnataka but failed to retain support among teachers and educated professionals.

B. K. Hariprasad, the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, said the party would review internal organizational lapses, along with teachers' concerns over job insecurity and state education policies.

The Bharatiya Janata Party retained the remaining three Karnataka seats, including the North-East Teachers' constituency, where Shashil G. Namoshi won a fifth term with 15,596 votes against Congress rival Sharanappa Mattur.

BJP candidate K. M. Suresh won South-East Graduates by 23,098 votes, while sitting lawmaker S. V. Sankanur kept the West Graduates seat by defeating Congress nominee Mohan Limbikai by 9,323 votes.

The voting was part of biennial elections for 28 seats across legislative councils in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka, where registered teachers and university graduates cast ballots on October 23.

In Uttar Pradesh, the ruling BJP won four seats while the Samajwadi Party secured two, The Times of India reported, as counting continued across 11 constituencies with 152 candidates.

Samajwadi Party candidate Lal Bihari Yadav won the Varanasi Teachers' seat, and Akash Agrawal defeated BJP nominee Hari Kishore Tiwari in the Agra-Aligarh Teachers' constituency.

The Election Commission of India suspended six supervisory officers and began disciplinary actions against five presiding officers and 16 police personnel in Uttar Pradesh over duties in Agra, Hindustan Times reported.

The counting process in Gorakhpur-Faizabad was contested when the Samajwadi Party boycotted tallying, and an additional commissioner was removed after an extra 52 votes appeared in a ballot box from Mau.

In Bihar, Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party entered the legislative council after Suresh Prasad Rai defeated sitting Congress lawmaker Madan Mohan Jha by 324 votes in Darbhanga Teachers.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal defeated veteran BJP lawmaker Nawal Kishore Yadav to win the Patna Teachers' seat, while Narendra Prasad Singh of the BJP won the Tirhut Teachers' constituency.

In Maharashtra, 182 candidates competed for five seats across Pune, Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Amravati, with official declarations from the election commission pending for several contests.

Officials expect the Election Commission of India to finalize the remaining tallies while state leaders evaluate whether the outcome weakens the Congress government's footing before the 2028 state assembly elections.