Maharashtra Council polls: Counting enters 22nd hour, MVA ahead in 3 seats, Mahayuti in 2

Counting of votes for three graduates' and two teachers' constituencies of the Legislative Council began at 8 am yesterday and is still under way. According to figures available till 7 am today, October 28, three Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidates are leading, while two Mahayuti candidates are ahead.

In the Pune graduates' constituency, there is a close contest between the MVA's Harshada Deshmukh and the Mahayuti's Smita Jadhav. Deshmukh leads in first-preference votes, with the BJP's Smita Jadhav second. Of the votes cast in this constituency, 2,26,224 have been held valid. The quota needed to win has been fixed at 1,13,113 votes.

In the Pune teachers' constituency, the BJP's Kaustubh Gawade leads in first-preference votes. Second is independent candidate Sachin Sanap, who has the Shiv Sena's support, and the candidate backed by the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RaSaPa), Datta Sawant, is third. Here 1,675 votes were rejected and 51,511 were found valid. The quota for the winning candidate has therefore been fixed at a minimum of 25,756 votes.

Counting is still on in the Nagpur graduates' constituency. In the first round, 84,000 votes are being counted. The Congress's Abhijit Wanjari leads in this round with 28,536 votes. The BJP's Sudhakar Kohale is second with 27,751 votes. Independent candidate Nitesh Karale has so far received 14,243 votes.

In the Amravati teachers' constituency, counting has been going on for 18 hours. At the end of the 14th round, the Shiv Sena's Kiran Sarnaik leads by 3,493 votes, having polled 8,229. The Congress candidate Aditi Pohare is second with 4,736 votes. Shrikant Deshpande, a rebel candidate from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, is third with 4,715 votes. Of the 26 candidates here, 15 are out of the contest.

In the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar graduates' constituency, after the second round, Dr Pratapsingh Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leads by 10,934 votes. He has received 54,095 votes, while Satish Chavan of the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party is second with 43,161 votes.