Maharashtra Council polls: Mahayuti ahead in 3 seats, Oppn NCP (SP) leads in 2

NAGPUR/PUNE: The BJP-led ruling Mahayuti was leading in three seats while the Opposition NCP (SP) was ahead in two seats as counting was underway on Wednesday for elections to five constituencies in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, officials said.

The final results were likely to be declared later in the day.

Polling for the Pune Graduates', Nagpur Graduates', Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) Graduates', Pune Teachers' and Amravati Teachers' constituencies took place on October 23, recording a voter turnout of 72.96 per cent, as per officials.

The polls were necessitated because the term of the sitting members of these constituencies ends on December 6.

The Mahayuti, comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Sunetra Pawar-led NCP, and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of the Congress, Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) and Uddhav Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena (UBT) contested all five seats.

As many as 182 candidates contested the polls, with both Mahayuti and MVA having been hit by rebellion.

BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale was leading by a margin of 4,265 votes in Nagpur Graduates' constituency and Shiv Sena candidate Kiran Sarnaik was ahead of his nearest rival by 4,555 votes in the Amravati Teachers' constituency after 21 rounds of counting.

Kohale so far polled 61,012 votes while Congress' sitting MLC Abhijeet Wanjari secured 56,747 votes in Nagpur Graduates' seat, the officials said.

In the Amravati Teachers' constituency, Sarnaik so far secured 10,672 votes. Congress candidate Aditi Pohre was in second place with 6,117 votes, while independent nominee Shrikant Deshpande, a rebel Shiv Sena Shinde candidate, secured 5,881 votes.

In Pune Teachers' constituency, BJP candidate Kaustubh Gawade was leading over rivals by securing more than 23,000 votes after the 28th round of counting, while independent candidate Sachin Sanap, backed by the Shiv Sena, was trailing with 16,347 votes, the officials said.

Gawade, however, was yet to reach the required quota of 25,756 votes to secure victory. Dattatray Sawant of the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh was in third position, while sitting Congress MLC Jayant Asgaonkar was eliminated from the race after securing 8,965 votes.

Sanap said he respected the mandate and acknowledged that there might have been shortcomings in his election campaign, which he would seek to address in the future.

In the Pune Graduates' constituency, NCP (SP) candidate Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav looked set to win as she was leading by 8,871 votes over BJP nominee Smita Yogesh Jadhav after the 26th elimination round.

Harshada secured 1,11,425 first-preference votes against 1,02,554 votes polled by the BJP candidate. The quota required for victory in the Graduates' constituency was 1,13,095 votes.

"The counting of second-preference votes is underway in the Pune Graduates' constituency election, as no candidate could secure the required quota of 1,13,095 votes after the completion of first-preference vote counting," said an election official.

Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav needs around 1,700 votes to reach the quota required for victory.

In the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) Graduates' constituency, NCP (SP) candidate Pratapsinh Patil was leading over NCP's sitting MLC Satish Chavan by 13,163 votes, an official said.

Chavan won the seat for the first time in 2008 and bagged it again in the 2014 and 2020 elections.

Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Dilip Ghuge bagged 8,439 votes so far and was at the fourth position, the official said.

Out of 1.91 lakh total votes, 1,77,115 votes have been found valid. The quota for winning the seat has been decided as 88,558 votes.

Counting of the second preference votes was currently underway, the official added.

In the 78-member Legislative Council, the BJP is the largest party with 35 members, followed by the Shiv Sena with 12 and the NCP with 10. Among the opposition parties, the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) have five MLCs each, while the NCP (SP) has two. The House also has four independent MLCs.