Voting begins for five Maharashtra Legislative Council seats, 182 candidates in the fray

Voting is under way today, Friday, October 23, for three graduates' and two teachers' seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council. Polling began at 8 am and will continue till 4 pm. A total of 182 candidates are in the fray for the five seats, and their fate will be sealed in the ballot boxes today.

The three graduates' seats are from the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Pune and Nagpur divisions. The two teachers' seats are from the Amravati and Pune divisions. The administration has claimed that preparations are complete in all five constituencies. A total of 2,419 polling stations have been set up, and 10,68,072 voters will cast their votes today.

In the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division, voting is being held in eight districts. For the Pune teachers' and graduates' constituencies, voting is taking place in Pune, Solapur, Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur. The Amravati teachers' constituency covers Amravati, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Akola and Washim. For the Nagpur graduates' constituency, polling is on in Nagpur, Chandrapur, Wardha, Gondia, Bhandara and Gadchiroli.

The large number of candidates has made the contest a tough one. Rebellion and discontent within the party have heightened the worries of the Mahayuti's official candidates. In the MVA, a friendly contest is set to take place, so all eyes are on who will win.

In the Pune teachers' constituency, which has 61,940 voters, the BJP has fielded Kaustubh Gawade. The Congress has challenged him by nominating Jayant Asgaonkar. Sachin Sanap is the Shiv Sena candidate, while Dattatraya Sawant is contesting as an independent.

The Pune graduates' constituency has 3.88 lakh voters. The BJP has nominated Smita Jadhav, and she faces Congress's Harshada Deshmukh Jadhav.

The Nagpur graduates' constituency has 2,58,637 voters. There is a direct contest here between the BJP's Sudhakar Kohale and the Congress's Abhijit Wanjari. Nitesh Karale of the Nationalist Congress Party has rebelled and is trying his luck as an independent. Only when the results come will it be known whom the voters have chosen.