Guess how many seats: Modi jibe as Congress draws MLC blank
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, October 28, mocked the Congress after it drew a blank in the Legislative Council elections to 28 seats in four states, all held on ballot papers.
In a post on X, Modi listed the four states and pointed out that the polls had been held using ballot papers. He then asked, “Guess how many seats Congress won?”
The jibe was aimed at the Congress’s campaign against electronic voting machines (EVM) and its demand for a return to paper ballots. The party is also running a street campaign against the Election Commission over alleged vote theft.
MLC elections in 28 seats across 4 big states – Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 28, 2026
Elections held using ballot papers.
Guess how many seats Congress won? 🧐
Where the seats went
The 28 seats were all graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies – 11 in Uttar Pradesh, eight in Bihar, five in Maharashtra and four in Karnataka. Polling was held on October 23 and counting began on October 27.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won four seats, including the Lucknow Teachers’ seat and both the Teachers’ and Graduates’ seats in Meerut. The Samajwadi Party won two, the Varanasi and Agra-Aligarh Teachers’ seats.
In Bihar, Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the BJP and an independent had won one seat each. In Karnataka, BJP and its partner Janata Dal (Secular) swept all four seats.
The results come ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
BJP piles on
Other BJP leaders joined the attack. Spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said voters had rejected the Congress, whether elections were held on EVMs or on ballot papers.
BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said the fault lay neither with EVMs nor with ballot papers but with the Congress’ mindset.
Congress admits setback
In Karnataka, where the Congress is in power, Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the party would review the defeat in all four seats and correct its mistakes.
Congress leaders Akhilesh Prasad Singh and Manoj Kumar also questioned how candidates were selected. Singh admitted mistakes had been made, without blaming the ballot-paper system.
Council polls for graduates’ and teachers’ seats are always held on ballot papers because voters rank candidates by preference, which EVMs cannot record. Only registered graduates and teachers in each constituency can vote.
The exchange comes days before the Congress’ November 1 rally at Ramlila Maidan, where the party says around 1 million people will take part.
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This content is published by The Siasat Daily and has not been created or edited by Hello Headlines. View original
