The five constituencies include three Graduate seats — Aurangabad Division Graduates, Pune Division Graduates and Nagpur Division Graduates — and two Teachers’ seats — Amravati Division Teachers and Pune Division Teachers. The Election Commission has scheduled voting for October 23, while the counting of votes will take place on October 27.
With the election schedule announced, political parties in Maharashtra are set to begin the nomination process. The election notification will be issued on September 29, while October 6 will be the last date for filing nominations. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on October 7, and candidates will be able to withdraw their nominations until October 9.
The elections are being held as the terms of the five sitting members of the Maharashtra Legislative Council are set to end on December 6. The members whose terms are ending are Chavan Satish Bhanudasrao from the Aurangabad Division Graduates’ Constituency, Arun Ganpati Lad from the Pune Division Graduates’ Constituency, Abhijit Govindrao Wanjari from the Nagpur Division Graduates’ Constituency, Sarnaik Kiran Ramrao from the Amravati Division Teachers’ Constituency and Jayant Dinkar Asgaonkar from the Pune Division Teachers’ Constituency.
The announcement has also raised questions over the electoral strategy of the Mahayuti alliance. It remains to be seen whether the alliance partners will contest these elections together or separately, as a constituent party of the Mahayuti has also expressed its desire to contest independently.
Political parties have now begun preparations for the five constituencies following the announcement. In the Amravati Teachers’ Constituency, the names of Hemant Kalmegh, director of Shri Shivaji Education Society, Sangeeta Shinde, sister of MP Anil Bonde, and Shekhar Bhoyar are being discussed as possible BJP candidates.
On the Congress side, the name of Aditi Pohare, daughter of former Nationalist Congress Party minister Harshvardhan Deshmukh, is being discussed.
The announcement of the five Legislative Council elections has therefore set the electoral process in motion, with nominations beginning from September 29, polling on October 23 and counting scheduled for October 27.
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