Lucknow, Oct. 27 -- Counting of votes for the Legislative Council biennial elections for five graduates' and six teachers' seats will begin at 8 am on Tuesday in seven districts-Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Jhansi, Bareilly, and Gorakhpur-marking the final major election expected to give pointers to the state assembly polls early next year. Amid concerns over the presence of rebels and independent candidates, the MLC poll results, despite a much smaller electorate size, are likely to set the narrative for the 2027 assembly election as both the BJP and the SP -the main contestants-look to mobilise resources and the cadre for the bigger battle ahead. A total of 152 candidates are in the fray for 11 seats. The five graduate constituencies are: Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut and Allahabad-Jhansi. The six teachers' constituencies include Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Bareilly-Moradabad and Gorakhpur-Faizabad. As the Legislative Council poll results will be declared on the basis of the proportional representation system under the single transferable vote system, counting is likely to take longer. In the previous election held in 2020, the BJP won six of the 11 seats, the SP bagged three and independents won two. If the BJP is able to increase its tally, the gains will help it counter the Opposition narrative of dissatisfaction among the youth, the Ram temple donation theft controversy, upper caste anger over UGC guidelines and Opposition accusations of manipulation in EVMs. Ballot papers have been used in this election. The SP must win at least three seats in the election to maintain its hold over the leader of the opposition post in the Legislative Council....