Counting begins for five Maharashtra Council seats as rebels and independents upset calculations

Counting of votes for five seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council began at 8 am on Tuesday. The contest appears neck and neck between the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The Mahayuti comprises the BJP, Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Sunetra Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party. The MVA comprises the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) of Sharad Pawar.

Voting was held on October 23 in the Pune graduates', Nagpur graduates', Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) graduates', Pune teachers' and Amravati teachers' constituencies. Turnout was 72.96 per cent. The terms of the sitting members on these five seats end on December 6, which is why the elections were held.

A total of 182 candidates are in the fray for the five seats. Both alliances are facing a challenge from rebels and independent candidates from within their own camps, which has quickened pulses on both sides.

The contest on the Pune teachers' seat is a closely watched one. The BJP's Kaustubh Gawade faces the Congress's sitting Council member Jayant Asgaonkar. The Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena has backed independent candidate Sachin Sanap against the BJP's official nominee, making it a three-cornered fight. Sanap is the officer on special duty (OSD) to Minister of State Uday Samant.

On the Amravati teachers' seat, the challengers to the Shiv Sena's sitting Council member Kiran Sarnaik include the Congress candidate Aditi Pohare and the Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate.

On the Nagpur graduates' seat, the Congress's sitting Council member Abhijit Wanjari is in a direct contest with the BJP's Sudhakar Kohale. During the election process, BJP rebel Anil Sole announced that he was withdrawing his candidature and backing Kohale. But the last date for withdrawal had passed, so he could not do so and his name remained on the ballot.

On the Pune graduates' seat, the BJP has fielded Smita Jadhav. She faces Harshada Deshmukh, the candidate of the Sharad Pawar faction. Although it is part of the MVA, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) has also fielded its own candidate here.

On the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar graduates' seat, Satish Chavan, the sitting Council member of the Nationalist Congress Party led by Sunetra Pawar, faces Pratapsinh Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) and a Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate. Results due today will show whom the rebellions and independents hurt most.