Lucknow, Oct. 29 -- The results of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections for graduate and teachers' constituencies come as a shot in the arm for the principal opposition, the Samajwadi Party. Contested entirely on ballot papers and largely confined to the urban and educated class, the polls saw the SP win four seats and it was poised to win another.

Party leaders are already viewing the outcome as a precursor to the likely verdict in the high-stakes 2027 assembly elections.

The Samajwadi Party retained two of its earlier seats: Varanasi teacher seat (Lal Bihari Yadav) and Allahabad-Jhansi graduate seat (Man Singh Yadav). It wrested the Lucknow graduate seat where Kanti Singh won and the Agra teachers' (Akash Agarwal) seat. The...