Maharashtra Legislative Council Election Results: BJP-led Mahayuti leads in 3 seats

Nagpur/Pune: The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance was leading in three of five Maharashtra Legislative Council constituencies, while the opposition Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) [NCP (SP)] was ahead in two seats as vote counting continued, according to election officials.

The elections covered the Pune Graduates’, Nagpur Graduates’, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates’, Pune Teachers’ and Amravati Teachers’ constituencies. Polling was held on October 23, recording a voter turnout of 72.96 per cent. The final results were expected later that day.

Key candidates and counting updates

In the Nagpur Graduates’ constituency, BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale led Congress incumbent Abhijeet Wanjari by 4,265 votes. Kohale received 61,012 votes, compared with Wanjari’s 56,747.

In Amravati Teachers’, Shiv Sena candidate Kiran Sarnaik was ahead by 4,555 votes after 21 counting rounds. He secured 10,672 votes, while Congress candidate Aditi Pohre received 6,117. Independent candidate Shrikant Deshpande, a rebel associated with the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, polled 5,881 votes.

BJP candidate Kaustubh Gawade led the Pune Teachers’ constituency with more than 23,000 votes after the 28th round. However, he had yet to reach the victory quota of 25,756 votes. Shiv Sena-backed independent candidate Sachin Sanap was trailing with 16,347 votes.

NCP (SP) candidates lead in 2 constituencies

In Pune Graduates’, NCP (SP) candidate Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav secured 1,11,425 first-preference votes, ahead of BJP nominee Smita Yogesh Jadhav, who received 1,02,554. With the winning quota set at 1,13,095, second-preference vote counting began to determine the outcome.

In Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates’, NCP (SP) candidate Pratapsinh Patil led sitting NCP MLC Satish Chavan by 13,163 votes. Officials reported 1,77,115 valid votes out of approximately 1.91 lakh votes cast, with the victory quota fixed at 88,558.

What the results mean

The contests featured 182 candidates, with both the Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliances facing rebel candidates. The elections were necessitated by the expiry of sitting members’ terms on December 6.

The five contests could influence the political balance in Maharashtra’s 78-member Legislative Council, where the BJP was the largest party with 35 members, followed by the Shiv Sena with 12 and the NCP with 10.