Pune liquor ban cut to polling day only, till 4 pm on October 23, after High Court order

Voting for five seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council is to be held on Friday. Three are graduates' constituency seats and two are teachers' constituency seats. In view of this election, the order on keeping liquor sales shut in Pune has now been changed.

The earlier order had decided to keep liquor sales shut for three days. A new, corrected order has now been issued in line with an order of the Bombay High Court. Under it, liquor sales will remain shut only from midnight 12 am to 4 pm on October 23, the day of voting.

The terms of five members from three graduates' and two teachers' constituencies of the Council are ending, which is why the Election Commission announced the elections. To ensure the elections are held peacefully and in a fair atmosphere, and that no law-and-order question arises, the administration had ordered liquor sales to be shut. That order had declared a three-day dry day.

Petitions were filed in the Bombay High Court against that order. On Wednesday, the court passed a new order on these petitions. Accordingly, the polling-day dry day has been kept only until 4 pm on October 23.

During this period, country and foreign liquor shops, outlets selling beer and wine, bars, clubs, liquor sales in hotels and other liquor shops in the notified area must remain closed.

So there will now be a dry day of just one day, not three. It will remain in force only until 4 pm on Friday, October 23. Following the court's direction, the new corrected order has been issued in Pune district.

The election schedule is as follows. The notification was issued on September 29, 2026. The last date for filing nominations was October 6, 2026, and the scrutiny of the forms took place on October 7, 2026. The last date for withdrawing candidature was October 9, 2026. Voting will be held on October 23, 2026, from 8 am to 4 pm, and counting and results will come on October 27, 2026.

The members whose terms are ending are as follows. From Aurangabad graduates: Satish Bhanudas Chavan (Nationalist Congress Party, Sharad Pawar's NCP / MVA); from Pune graduates: Arun Ganpati Lad (Nationalist Congress Party, Sharad Pawar's NCP / MVA); and from Nagpur graduates: Abhijit Govindrao Wanjari (Congress). From Amravati teachers: Kiran Ramrao Sarnaik (Shiv Sena, Shinde faction); and from Pune teachers: Jayant Dinkar Asgaonkar (Congress).