Congress to contest all 11 UP legislative council seats in November 2026 polls

In a major political announcement ahead of the 2026 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections, Uttar Pradesh Congress President and former minister Ajay Rai on Friday declared that his party will contest all 11 seats, including both Graduates’ and Teachers’ constituencies.

Addressing a press conference at the UP Congress headquarters, Rai said the decision reflects the party’s commitment to representing the voices of unemployed youth, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and other marginalized sections under the current BJP-led state government.

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He strongly criticized the Yogi Adityanath administration for widespread unemployment, recruitment delays, exam paper leaks, and deteriorating conditions for educators and government employees.

“The teachers are the worst affected under this regime. Neither honorariums are being given to unaided teachers, nor is there job security. Even aided college teachers’ service protections have been revoked. The BJP government has failed to restart the Old Pension Scheme or fill thousands of vacant teaching posts,” Rai said.

He further stated that the Congress party is actively mobilizing support, aiming to enroll 5 lakh graduate voters and 2 lakh teacher voters ahead of the election. Forms have already been distributed to all district and city Congress committees.

To ensure a robust campaign, Rai announced that a central connect center has been set up at the state party office in Lucknow. District-level coordination committees will be formed and linked to this center. Congress’s frontal organizations, including the legal, medical, and teachers’ cells, have been assigned special responsibilities for the election.

As part of its preparations, the party has named five coordinators/candidates for key seats: Vikrant Vashistha – Meerut-Saharanpur Graduates’ Constituency, Raghuraj Singh Pal – Agra Graduates’ Constituency, Dr. Devmani Tiwari – Lucknow Graduates’ Constituency, Sanjay Priyadarshi – Varanasi Teachers’ Constituency and Arvind Singh Patel – Varanasi Graduates’ Constituency.

Rai also revealed that senior Congress leaders, including MPs, MLAs, and former legislators, will be appointed as in-charges and co-in-charges across all 11 constituencies. The party will hold review meetings at the district level under the supervision of All India Congress Committee General Secretary Avinash Pandey, Ajay Rai himself, and other senior leaders.

Congress aims to re-establish its presence in the Upper House by contesting all seats and countering what Rai described as BJP’s past electoral malpractice, including booth capturing and vote tampering.