Results and trends of Maharashtra and Bihar Legislative Council elections emerge

The results and counting trends for the Legislative Council elections in Maharashtra and Bihar have emerged. During the counting for five seats in Maharashtra, the ruling Mahayuti alliance is leading in three seats, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is leading in two seats. On the other hand, in the elections for 8 seats in Bihar, the NDA alliance has won five seats, with the BJP winning two, JDU one, and other allies also securing victories. A fragmentation was seen in the opposition alliance in Bihar, while the NDA fought unitedly.

The elections for five seats in Maharashtra include the Pune Graduates, Nagpur Graduates, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) Graduates, Pune Teachers, and Amravati Teachers constituencies. These elections were imperative as the tenure of members for these seats was ending on 6 December. Voting took place on 23 October 2026. According to officials, 91.08% voting was recorded in the Amravati Teachers constituency and 85.87% in Pune Teachers. Nagpur Graduates saw 64.76% voting, Pune Graduates 62.78%, and Aurangabad Graduates 58.67%.

The Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra includes the BJP, Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, and the NCP led by Sunetra Pawar. The opposition MVA alliance features Congress, NCP (SP) led by Sharad Pawar, and Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray fighting against each other. A total of 182 candidates contested for these five seats, and both alliances faced rebel candidates.

According to a Hindustan Times report, initial trends show Mahayuti leading in the Pune Teachers, Amravati Teachers, and Nagpur Graduates constituencies. MVA is leading in Pune Graduates and Aurangabad Graduates. BJP candidate Kaustubh Gavade is leading in the Pune Teachers constituency, followed by Shiv Sena-backed Sachin Sanap and independent candidate Dattatray Sawant, while Congress's sitting MLC Jayant Asgaonkar is in fourth place. A quota of 25,756 votes was fixed to win this constituency.

A close contest was witnessed between MVA candidate Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav and Mahayuti's Dr. Smita Jadhav in the Pune Graduates constituency, with trends showing Deshmukh-Jadhav slightly ahead. In Aurangabad Graduates, NCP (SP) candidate Pratapsinh Patil is leading by around 4,000 votes over Mahayuti's sitting MLC Satish Chavan. In Nagpur Graduates, BJP's Sudhakar Kohale is leading by around 4,000 votes against Congress's Abhijit Wanjari. In Amravati Teachers, Shiv Sena's Kiran Sarnaik is leading, while rebel Shiv Sena leader Srikant Deshmukh is ahead of Congress's Aditi Pohare.

The elections for these 8 seats of the 75-member Legislative Council in Bihar included four teachers and four graduates constituencies. According to a BBC Hindi report, sitting MLCs were unable to retain their seats across all four teachers' constituencies in Bihar. In these elections, the NDA has won five seats: BJP two, JDU one, Jansuraj one, and independent candidates two seats. In Bihar, the NDA fought unitedly this time, while fragmentation was seen in the Mahagathbandhan.

Significant changes have been witnessed in the Bihar results. JDU's Neeraj Kumar won the Patna Graduates seat with 19,930 votes, which is his fourth consecutive win. RJD's Dilip Kumar remained second with 15,275 votes, and Jansuraj's Anuj Singh was third with 11,278 votes. Anuj Singh contested with the support of Mokama MLA Anant Singh. On the Patna Teachers seat, RJD's Sanjeev Kumar defeated BJP's Nawal Kishore Yadav by more than 1,000 votes. Nawal Kishore Yadav had held this seat for the last 30 years and had joined the BJP in 2014 after leaving the RJD.

On the Darbhanga Teachers seat, Jansuraj candidate Suresh Prasad Rai defeated Congress's Madan Mohan Jha. Suresh Rai contested after taking VRS from his job. On the Darbhanga Graduates seat, BJP's Sarvesh Kumar is leading, though no definitive result came out in the first phase of counting, but BJP and JDU leaders congratulated him. On the Saran Teachers seat, BJP rebel candidate Rahul Raj won contesting as an independent, defeating JDU's Anand Pushkar.

The sentiment of teachers' discontent has also reflected in the Bihar election results. There was massive anger among teachers regarding the non-implementation of the 7th Pay Commission. According to Ashwini Pandey, spokesperson of the Bihar State Teachers Association, this was the first time elections were held on teachers' issues, and the defeat of sitting representatives serves as a warning. According to the BBC report, this defeat of teachers shows that representatives will have to work in the interest of teachers.

Opposition leaders have raised questions regarding the transparency of the elections. Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav questioned the role of the Election Commission, stating that there was a lack of transparency in the Election Commission and 10 percent of votes were declared invalid in the Darbhanga Graduates seat. On the other hand, JDU spokesperson Anjum Ara said that the opposition has a habit of playing the victim card and the RJD and Congress need introspection. BJP Media Head Danish Iqbal stated that the BJP's performance has been good and these results prove that the intellectual society is with them. He also added that those people are now crying over EVMs even though the elections were held using ballot papers.