LUCKNOW, Sept. 25 -- Ahead of the high-stakes 2027 assembly polls, the biennial elections to 11 seats of the Uttar Pradesh legislative council from graduates' and teachers' constituencies are being closely watched as an electoral test for the ruling BJP after its lacklustre performance in 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the state, where its tally dropped to 33 from 62 in 2019. Polling for the 11 seats - five graduates' and six teachers' constituencies - will be held on October 23. The BJP has already announced candidates for five seats, while names for the remaining six are yet to be finalised. The party is expected to clear the names this week, ahead of the October 6 deadline for filing nominations. In the five seats where the BJP announced candidates in May, the party has retained its sitting MLCs - Avanish Kumar Singh from Lucknow graduates, Manvendra Pratap Singh from Agra graduates, Hari Singh Dhillon from Bareilly-Moradabad teachers, Umesh Dwivedi from Lucknow teachers and Shrichand Sharma from Meerut-Saharanpur teachers. The real challenge lies in the remaining six seats - Gorakhpur-Faizabad teachers, Allahabad-Jhansi graduates, Varanasi-Mirzapur teachers, Varanasi graduates, Agra-Aligarh teachers and Meerut-Saharanpur graduates - where the BJP is hunting for winnable faces amid caste equations and shifting loyalties of teachers' groups. According to party insiders, Dhruv Kumar Tripathi, the sitting MLC from the Gorakhpur-Faizabad teachers' constituency, is the frontrunner for the BJP ticket. Tripathi, who is associated with the Teachers' Party (Non-Political), has influence among sections of aided-school teachers, sources said. For the Allahabad-Jhansi graduates' seat, former Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh (Sharma group) state president Suresh Tripathi is a strong contender, according to party sources. His recent resignation from the organisational post is being seen as a clear signal of his entry into the BJP fold. The Agra-Aligarh teachers' seat has several claimants. Akash Agrawal, the sitting independent MLC, is among those seeking the BJP ticket, along with employee leader Harikishor Tiwari and Rahul Gupta from Etah. Varanasi has both graduate and teacher seats vacant for the BJP to decide. The party is treading cautiously, balancing Brahmin, Bhumihar and teacher lobby equations. The Meerut graduate seat is also open, with party weighing options between traditional BJP supporters and new entrants from teacher associations. The Samajwadi Party has already declared candidates for all 11 seats to get an early-mover advantage and consolidate its base among educated voters. According to the schedule announced by UP chief electoral officer Navdeep Rinwa, notification will be issued on September 29, nominations can be filed until October 6, scrutiny will take place on October 7 and the last date for withdrawal is October 9. Polling will be held on October 23 and counting will take place on October 27. The terms of the 11 sitting members end on December 6. Party sources said the state executive meeting would finalise names after feedback from regional units and RSS affiliates active in the educational field....