Council polls: Results clear for 3 of 5 seats after 28-hour count; NCP (SP) wins two, BJP one

The whole state is watching the counting of votes in the Legislative Council elections from the graduates' and teachers' constituencies. After nearly 28 hours of continuous counting, results for three of the five seats have become clear. The contest between the Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi was intense. Counting on the remaining two seats is still moving quickly, and the full picture will emerge soon.

In the Pune teachers' constituency, BJP's Kaustubh Gawade has won. He was the Mahayuti candidate. The contest was four-cornered. Facing Gawade were independent Sachin Sanap, who was backed by Shinde's Shiv Sena, Congress's Jayant Asgaonkar and independent Dattatraya Sawant. In the close fight, Gawade prevailed.

In the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar graduates' constituency, Pratapsinh Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) has won. He was up against Satish Chavan of the Nationalist Congress Party and Dilip Ghuge of Shiv Sena (UBT). Patil recorded a big win.

The third result is from the Pune graduates' constituency. It was a straight contest between BJP's Smita Jadhav and Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav of the NCP (SP). Deshmukh-Jadhav won. She is the candidate of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar).

Results are awaited on two seats. In the Nagpur graduates' constituency, BJP's Sudhakar Kohale, Congress's sitting MLC Abhijit Wanjari, NCP (SP)'s Nitesh Karale and Shikshak Bharati's Atul Deshmukh are in the fray. The main fight is seen as being between Kohale and Wanjari. The counting list shows Kohale in the lead.

In the Amravati teachers' constituency, the main contest is among Shiv Sena's Kiran Sarnaik, Congress's Aditi Pohare, independent Sangeeta Shinde and Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Dattatraya Lahane. The result is yet to come. The counting list shows Sarnaik in the lead.

Overall, the Pune teachers' seat has gone to BJP's Kaustubh Gawade, while the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar graduates' and Pune graduates' seats have been won by Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) candidates Pratapsinh Patil and Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav. The final outcome will be clear once counting in Nagpur and Amravati is complete.