NEW DELHI, October 29 — The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won 16 of 28 Legislative Council seats contested across four states, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to question Congress’s performance in elections conducted with paper ballots. Congress responded by pointing to opposition victories in Nagpur and Varanasi and urging the government to address inflation, employment and investment.

The exchange reflects two different readings of the same results. The BJP emerged as the largest individual party with 13 seats, while its allies added three. Congress won one seat, but other opposition parties secured important victories of their own, particularly the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.

The overall result

Reports published on Thursday put the NDA’s total at 16 across Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar and Maharashtra. The elections covered graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies, rather than a general electorate voting to choose a state government.

That distinction limits comparisons with Assembly or Lok Sabha elections. Council contests involve particular registered electorates, local organisations and candidate networks. Their outcomes can reveal political strengths and weaknesses, but they do not directly measure how every voter in the four states would vote in a statewide election.

The BJP’s allies contributing one seat each were the Janata Dal (Secular), Janata Dal (United) and Shiv Sena, according to the published breakdown. These alliance results matter because a party-only comparison would understate the NDA’s combined position.

Karnataka’s sweep and Uttar Pradesh’s split

Karnataka produced the clearest alliance victory: the BJP won three seats and the JD(S) one, leaving the governing Congress without a win in the four constituencies contested. The result gives the opposition alliance a concrete success to cite against the state government.

In Uttar Pradesh, the reported division was six seats for the BJP and five for the Samajwadi Party. The SP retained both Varanasi constituencies and also registered victories elsewhere. Those outcomes complicate any claim that the election produced an unqualified endorsement of a single party.

Varanasi carries particular political symbolism because Modi represents the area in the Lok Sabha. However, its Council constituencies and the parliamentary constituency are different electoral units. A defeat in a graduates’ or teachers’ contest does not amount to Modi losing his parliamentary seat.

Why Nagpur attracted attention

Congress candidate Abhijit Wanjari retained the Nagpur Division Graduates’ constituency, defeating BJP nominee Sudhakar Kohale by 3,271 votes, The Indian Express reported. Its account put Wanjari’s tally at 67,231 against Kohale’s 63,960 after an extended count.

Nagpur’s association with the RSS headquarters and senior BJP leaders gave the victory significance beyond Congress’s single-seat total. It supplied the party with a direct answer to the suggestion that it had failed everywhere.

Maharashtra’s broader result was also competitive. Published accounts reported three seats for the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi and two for the ruling Mahayuti. A national Congress-versus-BJP framing therefore misses the role of regional parties and alliances in determining the final distribution.

Modi’s argument and Congress’s response

Modi highlighted the use of ballot papers and asked how many seats Congress had won. The political point was aimed at the party’s continuing criticism of electronic voting machines and its demand for wider use of paper ballots.

BJP leaders argued that Congress should examine its political organisation and public appeal instead of blaming voting technology. Their case draws strength from the party’s poor overall tally, particularly the Karnataka sweep.

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh countered on Thursday by citing Nagpur and Varanasi. In a PTI report carried by ThePrint, he accused the prime minister of avoiding more pressing economic questions and called for attention to living costs, unemployment and private investment.

Those statements are political assessments. The election results establish who won particular seats; they do not independently establish the current scale of unemployment or investment weakness, which must be assessed using separate economic evidence.

What the ballot-paper debate does not resolve

An election conducted with paper ballots can test party organisation within that contest. Its result cannot, by itself, prove or disprove every allegation about voting machines used in other elections.

Equally, losing an election does not demonstrate that the counting process was unfair. Specific complaints require specific evidence, such as an identified procedural breach, a documented discrepancy or an adjudicated finding.

The same standard applies to claims that a handful of symbolic victories constitute a broad rejection of government policy. Those interpretations may shape campaigning, but they extend beyond what a limited set of Council results can establish.

Implications for both camps

For the BJP and its allies, the aggregate result offers an opportunity to emphasise organisational reach across four states. The Karnataka outcome is particularly useful to that argument. The losses highlighted by the opposition also indicate constituencies where the alliance’s strength did not translate into victory.

For Congress, retaining Nagpur provides a visible success, but does not erase its weak total. The Samajwadi Party and other regional parties have separate reasons to stress their own performance rather than accept a Congress-centred account of the election.

The immediate picture is therefore mixed but measurable: the NDA won a majority of the seats contested, Congress secured one, and opposition parties achieved several notable local victories. Broader claims about a national mandate remain interpretations, not conclusions established by these results alone.

Sources and credits

Reporting based on the linked sources available on 29 October 2026. More politics news.