BJP's Kaustubh Gawde close to winning Pune teachers' seat, Sachin Sanap trails by 6,200 votes

Only a formality remains before BJP candidate Kaustubh Gawde is declared winner of the Pune teachers' constituency election. Gawde is in first place in the counting. Sachin Sanap, backed by Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, is second, trailing Gawde by 6,200 votes.

Dattatray Sawant, who was in third place, has been eliminated. Congress candidate Jayant Asgaonkar was eliminated in the fourth round of counting, and the counting of his votes is under way. It is being checked whether that count changes the votes of second-placed Sanap and third-placed Sawant. That will decide who is eliminated next, after which the final result will emerge. The counting of Sanap's votes is also under way.

In the Pune graduates' constituency, meanwhile, no candidate has yet reached the quota needed to win. As the quota was not reached even after the first-preference votes were counted, subsequent preference votes are being counted. The quota required to win is 1,13,095 votes. So far 21 candidates have been eliminated.

After the 21st elimination round, Maha Vikas Aghadi candidate Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav (Nationalist Congress Party, Sharad Pawar faction) has 1,11,279 votes. BJP's Dr Smita Yogesh Jadhav has 1,02,427 votes. Deshmukh-Jadhav thus leads Smita Jadhav by 8,852 votes and needs another 1,816 votes to reach the quota. Deshmukh-Jadhav, who took a big lead in the first round, has held it since the start, while BJP's Smita Jadhav is in second place.

Among the other candidates, Sunil Jabarchand Modi (Shiv Sena, Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction) is third with 3,066 votes. Somnath Janardhan Salunkhe has 2,638 votes, Namdevrao Jadhav 1,955 and Laxman Sahebrao Haranwal 1,472.

Counting in both constituencies is nearing its final stage. The final results are expected by afternoon.