Pune teachers' seat count: BJP's Gawde leads, Sanap second, Congress MLC Asgaonkar slips to fourth

Voting for the Legislative Council graduates' and teachers' constituencies was held on Friday. Counting began at 8 am today. Early trends are coming in from some centres, and the picture is slowly becoming clearer in the Pune teachers' constituency.

According to the information available, BJP's Kaustubh Gawde is leading in the Pune teachers' constituency. Sachin Sanap, backed by Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, is second. Independent candidate Dattatray Sawant is reported to be third. In the early count, Prof. Sachin Sanap, who was fielded by the Sena, has moved up to second place, while Sawant has slipped to third.

The biggest setback in this election has been for the Congress. Sitting MLC Jayant Asgaonkar has fallen straight to fourth place. His slide in the very first trends of the count is being seen as a heavy blow to the Congress.

The figures show how tight the contest is. In the Pune teachers' constituency count, 1,675 votes have been found invalid, while 51,511 votes have been deemed valid. On that basis, the quota needed to win has been fixed at 25,756 votes. A winning candidate must secure at least that many votes.

The question now is which candidate will cross the quota. First-preference votes do not appear to settle the matter, so second-preference votes will also have to be counted to decide the result. In the current picture, a close fight appears to be on between independent Dattatray Sawant and BJP's Kaustubh Gawde. The election as a whole is said to be heading for a very close finish.

Counting is also under way for the Pune graduates' constituency. In the early trends there, Harshada Jadhav of the Maha Vikas Aghadi and Dr Smita Jadhav of the Mahayuti are locked in a close fight. The quota of votes needed to win this seat is yet to be fixed.

Overall, the count is still at an early stage and these trends could change. The final result in the Pune teachers' constituency will emerge only after the quota is set and second-preference votes are counted.