Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav 1,816 votes from quota in Pune graduates' count; no seat declared yet

Counting for the Pune graduates' constituency of the Maharashtra Legislative Council is in its closing stage, with Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) candidate Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav ahead but still short of the winning mark. Votes for five seats across the graduates' and teachers' constituencies began to be counted at 8 am on Tuesday, the 27th, and the process has now gone on for about 22 hours without a single seat being formally declared.

The quota needed in Pune is 1,13,095 votes. No candidate reached it on first-preference votes, so second and later preferences are being tallied. Twenty-one candidates have been eliminated so far. Deshmukh-Jadhav, the Maha Vikas Aghadi candidate, holds 1,11,279 votes and needs another 1,816 to cross the line. She took a big lead in the very first round, and it has not been dented since.

The BJP's Dr Smita Yogesh Jadhav is second with 1,02,427 votes, which is 8,852 behind the leader. The rest are far back. Sunil Jabarchand Modi of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction) has 3,066 votes, Somnath Janardan Salunkhe has 2,638, Namdevrao Jadhav has 1,955 and Laxman Sahebrao Harnawal has 1,472.

The contest was billed as a direct fight between the Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi, though friendly contests were seen in a few places, and attention has also been on whose chances the rebel candidates would hurt.

In the teachers' constituency, BJP candidate Kaustubh Gavde is leading. Sachin Sanap, who has Shiv Sena's backing, is second, and Dattatray Sawant is third. Congress's Jayant Asgaonkar went out in the fourth round, and the transfer of his votes is being counted. That will show whether Sanap or Sawant gains from them. The next elimination will follow, and then the final result. Officials had earlier expected that result by afternoon.

The whole state is waiting for the final figures.