The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday announced the schedule for elections to five Maharashtra Legislative Council seats from three Graduates’ and two Teachers’ constituencies, with the terms of the sitting members ending on December 6, 2026.
The seats include the Aurangabad, Pune and Nagpur Graduates’ constituencies and the Amravati and Pune Teachers’ constituencies.
According to the ECI schedule, the notification will be issued on September 29, with October 6 as the last date for filing nominations and October 7 for scrutiny. Polling will be held on October 23 from 8 am to 4 pm, while counting of votes will take place on October 27.
The incumbent members from the Graduates’ constituencies are Bhanudasrao Satish Chavan (NCP) from Aurangabad Division, Arun Ganpati Lad (NCP-SP) from Pune Division and Abhijit Govindrao Wanjari (Congress) from Nagpur Division.
The sitting members from the Teachers’ constituencies are Kiran Ramrao Sarnaik from Amravati Division, who is an independent and has joined Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena as an associate member, and Jayant Dinkar Asgaonkar (Congress) from Pune Division.
The announcement has set the stage for discussions within the ruling Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, over candidate selection and seat allocation.
The BJP has traditionally maintained a presence in several Graduates’ constituencies, including Pune and Nagpur, while Ajit Pawar’s NCP has a strong organisational base in the Pune region. Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena has also been focusing on outreach among teachers, professors and youth groups in western Maharashtra and Amravati..
With polling scheduled for October 23, discussions on seat allocation are expected to intensify ahead of the nomination process.
The Opposition parties — Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP-SP and Congress — are also expected to meet to chalk out their strategy.
(IANS Inputs)
