Holiday Declared for UP MLC Council Polls Across Meerut Division

• by Akanksha Mishra
• 2026-10-23 14:41:00

In an administrative directive aimed at ensuring seamless polling operations and maintaining local order, the district administration has ordered all government and private schools and higher education colleges across Ghaziabad to remain shut on Friday, October 23, 2026. The special public holiday applies across the spectrum, spanning nursery classes, primary and secondary schools up to Class 12, as well as degree colleges, universities, and professional coaching campuses throughout the NCR district. The shutdown comes in direct connection with the ongoing biennial elections for the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad), where educational campuses serve as vital polling booths and academic faculties participate as voters in the high-stakes Meerut Division Graduates' and Teachers' constituencies.

High-Stakes Biennial Battle: 152 Candidates in the Fray Across 11 UP Seats

The regional holiday in Ghaziabad coincides with a massive democratic exercise unfolding across Uttar Pradesh's upper house:

Electing 11 Legislative Council Members: Polling is being conducted simultaneously across 11 council segments, comprising five dedicated Graduates' constituencies and six Teachers' constituencies.

Large Electorate and Ballot Infrastructure: A total of 152 candidates are testing their political fortunes before an electorate of 14,81,310 registered voters, with voting taking place via traditional ballot papers across 2,697 designated polling stations from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

Direct Saffron vs Red Showdown: Serving as an electoral precursor ahead of the upcoming state assembly polls, the election features an intense head-to-head showdown between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP), with both parties contesting all 11 seats.

Scheduled Counting Date: Following the conclusion of ballot casting on Friday evening, ballot boxes will be secured in multi-tier strongrooms ahead of the statewide counting of votes on October 27, 2026.

Constituency-Wise Numbers: Varanasi Leads Graduates Race, Bareilly-Moradabad Tops Teachers

Voter and candidate distribution across the regional segments highlights high electoral enthusiasm across western, central, and eastern UP:

Contender Density in Graduates' Seats: Varanasi Graduates' constituency registers the highest number of contenders with 24 candidates, followed by Lucknow with 16, Agra and Allahabad-Jhansi with 13 candidates each, and the Meerut Division seat with eight hopefuls.

Teachers' Constituency Dynamics: In the Teachers' category, Bareilly-Moradabad features 17 contenders, Gorakhpur-Faizabad has 16, Lucknow hosts 13, Agra records 12, while Varanasi and Meerut each have 10 candidates in the race.

Electorate Scale: The Lucknow Graduates' seat boasts the largest individual voter roll in the state with 3,13,531 electors, followed closely by Varanasi with 2,88,622 registered voters and Allahabad-Jhansi with 2,64,233 electors.

Voter Eligibility Framework: Under constitutional norms, the Graduates' franchise is restricted exclusively to degree holders from recognized Indian universities, while the Teachers' roll requires electors to have served full-time in secondary schools or higher educational institutions for at least three of the preceding six years.

Upper House Arithmetic: Term Expirations and Current Numerical Balance

The ongoing balloting will determine the upcoming composition of the 100-member Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council:

Tenures Ending December 6: The biennial election was mandated due to the scheduled retirement of 11 sitting members on December 6, 2026.

Outgoing Lawmakers: The retiring legislators include BJP members Avneesh Kumar Singh, Manvendra Pratap Singh, Dinesh Kumar Goyal, Umesh Dwivedi, Shrichand Sharma, and Hari Singh Dhillon; Samajwadi Party MLCs Lal Bihari Yadav, Ashutosh Sinha, and Man Singh Yadav; Independent MLC Akash Agrawal; and Teachers' representative Dhruv Kumar Tripathi.

Existing Floor Strength: In the 100-seat Vidhan Parishad, the ruling BJP holds a dominant position with 79 seats, complemented by its alliance partner Apna Dal (Sonelal) with one seat; the Samajwadi Party holds 10 seats, while five members represent other factions and four sit as Independents.

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