Counting begins for 5 Maharashtra Legislative Council seats, 182 candidates await verdict

Results for the graduates' and teachers' constituencies of the state Legislative Council are due today. Voting in these constituencies, spread across Pune, Nagpur, Amravati and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, was held on October 23. A total of 182 candidates were in the fray for the five seats, covering the graduates' constituencies and two teachers' constituencies. Counting began at 8 am today.

The reputation of several senior leaders of both the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the Mahayuti is at stake, and the whole state is watching to see who wins. Rebellion was seen in several places, independent candidates posed a challenge in many, and differences surfaced between allied parties. For these reasons, political circles are showing keen interest in the contests. There is curiosity over how many seats each party will win after the count.

On turnout, the Nagpur graduates' constituency recorded 64.76 per cent polling on October 23. The Pune graduates' constituency recorded 62.78 per cent and the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar graduates' constituency 58.67 per cent. Turnout in the teachers' constituencies was far higher, at 91.08 per cent in Amravati and 85.87 per cent in Pune.

In the Nagpur graduates' constituency, the main contest is between the Maha Vikas Aghadi's Abhijit Wanjari and the Mahayuti's Sudhakar Kohale. In the Pune graduates' constituency, the BJP's Dr Smita Jadhav and Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav, the candidate of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), are among the candidates. In the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar graduates' constituency, Satish Chavan, Dilip Ghuge and Pratapsinh Patil are contesting along with several others.

The picture is similar in the teachers' constituencies. In the Amravati teachers' constituency, Kiran Sarnaik, Aditi Pohare, Sangita Shinde and Dattatray Lahane are in the fray along with other candidates. In the Pune teachers' constituency, the BJP's Kaustubh Gavade, Sachin Sanap, the Congress's Jayant Asgaonkar and Dattatray Sawant are among those trying their luck.

As counting progresses in all five constituencies, the picture will become clearer. Political circles are watching how many seats the Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi win, and how much impact the rebel and independent candidates have.