Pune: Counting of votes for Maharashtra's five Legislative Council Teachers' and Graduates' constituencies continued on Wednesday, with official declarations in for two seats — one each for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), IANS reported.
Source: IANS via IANS Live
In the Pune Teachers' constituency, BJP nominee Kaustubh Gawade won after defeating the Congress party's sitting legislator Jayant Asgaonkar and Sachin Sanap, an Independent candidate supported by Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, according to IANS. The BJP had made the seat a prestige contest, with its election strategy implemented under the guidance of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and senior ministers including Chandrakant Patil campaigning in the constituency.
In the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Marathwada) Graduates' constituency, NCP(SP) nominee Dr Pratapsingh Patil defeated NCP/Mahayuti candidate Satish Chavan, a three-term legislator from the same seat, IANS reported. Independent Raviraj Sable and Dilip Ghuge of Shiv Sena (UBT) also lost. IANS said Patil maintained a strong preference-vote lead through the counting rounds to secure the seat for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
Counting was still underway for the remaining three seats — Nagpur Graduates', Pune Graduates' and Amravati Teachers' — because of the preferential voting system, elimination rounds and quota calculations, IANS and Nation Press reported. Polling for the five seats was held on October 23.
In the seats still being counted, Mirror Now reported early leads, which are not declared results: Congress candidate Abhijit Wanjari led in Nagpur Graduates' after the opening round, Shiv Sena's Kiran Sarnaik led in Amravati Teachers' after three rounds, and NCP(SP)'s Harshada Deshmukh led in Pune Graduates'. Final declarations were awaited as elimination rounds continued.
Source: Mirror Now
IANS reported that NCP(SP) leaders including working president and MP Supriya Sule, former minister Jayant Patil and state chief Shashikant Shinde had campaigned for Patil, and that Shiv Sena legislator and former minister Abdul Sattar defied his party line to support Patil.