182 candidates in fray as Maharashtra votes on five Legislative Council seats on Friday

Voting will be held on Friday for three graduates' and two teachers' constituencies of the Maharashtra Legislative Council. Polling will run from 8 am to 4 pm. Campaigning has ended, and the fate of a total of 182 candidates across the five seats now rests with the voters.

The elections are being held in Pune, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nagpur and Amravati. A total of 10,68,072 voters will cast their votes. All arrangements for polling have been completed.

By constituency, the Aurangabad division graduates' constituency has 41 candidates. The Pune division graduates' constituency has 47 candidates in the fray, the highest among the five seats. The Nagpur graduates' constituency has 38 candidates. The Amravati division teachers' constituency has 26 candidates and the Pune division teachers' constituency has 30.

In Nagpur, preparations have been made to distribute polling material for the graduates' election. The material will be handed over to polling parties under tight police security. A total of 455 polling centres have been set up for the Nagpur graduates' election, of which the largest number, 246, are in Nagpur district. Polling parties will be ready to ensure smooth voting, and 2,535 officers and staff have been deployed for this. In addition, 476 Central government officials have been made available, along with 32 officials of a central public sector undertaking for Gadchiroli district.

In Nagpur, voting will be held on October 23 from 8 am to 4 pm. Votes will be counted on October 27. Across the six districts of the Nagpur division, a total of 2,55,000 voters are registered. They include 1,47,280 men and 1,08,301 women.

District-wise, the number of voters is: Nagpur 144,466, Chandrapur 32,262, Gondia 22,176, Wardha 21,742, Bhandara 21,349 and Gadchiroli 13,106. Nagpur district thus has the most voters and Gadchiroli the fewest.

District-wise, the polling centres are: 246 in Nagpur, 58 in Chandrapur, 41 in Wardha, 39 in Gondia, 35 in Bhandara and 26 in Gadchiroli.