Pune MLC polls for the Graduate and Teachers constituencies concluded on Friday with long queues, strong participation among teachers and a four-cornered contest shaped by rebellions within both major political alliances. The election covered Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Solapur districts, with counting scheduled for 27 October.
Voting began at 8 am across the Pune division under security arrangements put in place by the election administration. The contest was closely watched because both the Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi had faced internal dissent and competing candidates in the final stages of the campaign.
According to information from the divisional commissioner’s office cited in the report, the first two hours showed a faster voting pace in the Teachers constituency than in the Graduate constituency. By 10 am, the Graduate constituency had recorded 8.86% voting, while the Teachers constituency had recorded 12.94%. Male voters outnumbered female voters during this early phase in both constituencies. In the Graduate constituency, male turnout stood at 10.22% and female turnout at 6.20%, while third-gender voters recorded 4.76%. In the Teachers constituency, male turnout was 14.80% and female turnout was 10.04%.
The Graduate constituency had 47 candidates in the fray. The principal contest was reported to be between the Bharatiya Janata Party’s official candidate Dr Smita Jadhav and Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar). However, Sunil Modi of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction continued his candidature against the Maha Vikas Aghadi nominee, raising the possibility of a division in the alliance’s votes.
The Teachers constituency had 30 candidates. The BJP fielded Kaustubh Gawade, while Congress candidate and sitting legislator Jayant Asgaonkar sought re-election. The contest was further complicated after the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde publicly backed independent candidate Sachin Sanap instead of the BJP nominee. Former legislator Datta Sawant was also contesting as an independent candidate.
The administration had to manage the additional procedural requirements of a preferential voting system. Voters were required to mark their first preference, and ballots could be invalidated if the preference sequence began with a number other than one. The report said election officials and campaign workers had conducted awareness efforts on the process, while voters were seen taking particular care to avoid technical errors.
Voting ended at 4 pm, after which ballot boxes were sealed and transported under security to the divisional commissioner’s office for collection and record verification. Officials continued matching ballot-box seals, documents and final figures into the night. The counting of votes for the Pune division constituencies and the other three Maharashtra constituencies that voted on the same day is scheduled for 27 October, with the full election process expected to conclude by 31 October.
