Akhilesh Yadav claims Varanasi by-poll win signals BJP's 2027 end
Synopsis
SP president Akhilesh Yadav hails twin by-poll victories in Varanasi, blaming BJP for failing Ganga, weavers and heritage sites, and pledges a Metro and heritage revival ahead of the 2027 UP assembly election.
Key Takeaways
Samajwadi Party candidates Ashutosh Sinha and Lal Bihari Yadav won both Varanasi by-election seats on November 4, 2026 .
Akhilesh called the result a repudiation of BJP's 'double engine government' slogan, coining the phrase 'double engine ko double zero kar diya.' He listed ten specific grievances including alleged damage to Manikarnika Ghat , the Namami Gange budget being unaccounted for, and the destruction of the handloom and handicraft economy of Banaras.
Akhilesh accused BJP of 'mortgaging Banaras to outside contractors' and failing to deliver on a Kyoto-style tourism development model it had promised.
SP pledged to build a Metro rail in Varanasi and to show that heritage conservation and modern development can coexist.
Akhilesh framed the victories as a launching pad for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly election , declaring 'BJP will go, Kashi will smile.'
Two seats. One city. And a political earthquake Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav says has just rewritten the script for Uttar Pradesh 2027. Addressing the people of Kashi after SP candidates Ashutosh Sinha and Lal Bihari Yadav won by-elections from Varanasi on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, Akhilesh declared that the city had turned 'double engine' into 'double zero.'
SP's Ashutosh Sinha and Lal Bihari Yadav win Varanasi by-polls
In a post addressed 'Priya Kashiwasiyon' ('Dear residents of Kashi'), Akhilesh thanked voters for the 'affection' shown to him during his visit to Varanasi the previous day. He described the twin victories of Ashutosh Sinha and Lal Bihari Yadav as a 'double blessing' from Baba Vishwanath himself — a pointed theological frame, given that Varanasi is the seat of one of India's most revered Shiva temples and BJP has long projected itself as its guardian.
Akhilesh's characterisation of the result as 'Kashi ne double engine ko double zero kar diya' — 'Kashi has zeroed out the double engine' — is a direct inversion of the BJP's signature 'double engine government' slogan, referring to the party's simultaneous hold on the state and central governments.
Ten grievances Akhilesh says drove voters away from BJP
Rather than simply celebrating, Akhilesh enumerated a detailed list of what he called the decisive reasons behind the BJP's defeat. The charges ranged from the alleged demolition of a structure at the ancient Manikarnika Ghat, to what he described as the 'insult' shown to a statue of Rajmata Devi Ahilyabai Holkar — an 18th-century Maratha queen revered across caste lines. He also cited an alleged assault on Shankaracharya, the use of police batons against members of the Pal community, and an alleged crackdown on the Dal Mandi trading area.
The SP president's sharpest criticism was reserved for the Namami Gange programme: 'Those who claimed Mother Ganga had called them have betrayed Mother Ganga. Billions in the Namami Gange budget — no one knows where it flowed.' He also pointed to the neglect of Banarasi weavers, the destruction of the city's handicraft sector, the displacement of boatmen from their livelihoods, and what he called a culture of 'commissions' that had killed small businesses. 'BJP has mortgaged Banaras to outside contractors,' he wrote, adding a wry line: 'You couldn't build Kyoto — at least you could have put up a photo of Kyoto.'
SP's 2027 promise: Metro, heritage, and 'Varanasi smiling again'
Akhilesh closed the post with a forward-looking pledge. He promised a Metro rail for Varanasi to free the city from chronic traffic gridlock, and committed to demonstrating — using 'cutting-edge technology' — how heritage conservation and development can proceed together. 'Kaashi ka gaurav phir se waapas laana hamara sankalp hai' — 'Restoring Kashi's glory is our resolve, one we will honour.'
He ended with a couplet that will travel far on campaign trails: 'BJP jayegi, Kashi muskurayegi!' — 'BJP will go, Kashi will smile!' — and signed simply, 'Aapka Akhilesh' ('Your Akhilesh'), a salutation that has become a fixture of his social-media persona.
Two by-election victories in Varanasi — a constituency Prime Minister Narendra Modi has represented in Parliament since 2014 — carry a symbolism no political strategist in Lucknow or Delhi will want to understate. For the SP, the longlata sweet of Banaras, which Akhilesh says will 'sweeten his mouth in 2027', is already on the menu.
Point of View
Regardless of the margin. Akhilesh's decision to anchor his victory statement in hyper-local grievances (boatmen, weavers, Dal Mandi traders, the Pal community) rather than national narratives suggests SP's 2027 ground game is targeting the city's economic underclass, not just its dominant caste blocs. The explicit invocation of Manikarnika Ghat, the Shankaracharya, and Ahilyabai Holkar signals a deliberate effort to contest BJP on its own civilisational-identity turf. If this two-seat gain holds as a bellwether, the assembly election landscape in eastern UP could look very different eighteen months from now.
NationPress
5 Nov 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the Varanasi by-elections in November 2026?
Samajwadi Party candidates Ashutosh Sinha and Lal Bihari Yadav won both Varanasi by-election seats on November 4, 2026 , as confirmed by SP president Akhilesh Yadav in his post on X.
What did Akhilesh Yadav mean by 'double engine double zero'?
It is a direct counter to BJP's 'double engine government' slogan, which refers to the same party being in power at both the state and central level. Akhilesh said Varanasi voters had reduced both 'engines' to zero by rejecting the party in the by-polls.
What is Akhilesh Yadav's promise for Varanasi in 2027?
Akhilesh promised to build a Metro rail to solve Varanasi's traffic congestion, to protect and promote the city's heritage using modern technology, and to restore what he called 'Kashi's lost glory' if SP comes to power after the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly election .
Why did Akhilesh Yadav criticise the Namami Gange programme?
Akhilesh said that BJP leaders had claimed Mother Ganga had 'called them' to Varanasi, but had instead 'betrayed' the river. He alleged that a budget of billions of rupees under the Namami Gange scheme had gone unaccounted for, with no visible improvement on the ground.
What is the significance of SP winning in Varanasi for the 2027 UP election?
Varanasi is the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a symbolic stronghold of BJP. SP winning by-elections there is widely seen as an early indicator of voter mood in eastern Uttar Pradesh, and gives the party a strong narrative platform heading into the 2027 state assembly election .
