Maharashtra MLC Polls: Voting Underway for Five Seats as Mahayuti, MVA Predict Victory

A total of 2,419 polling stations have been established across the Pune Teachers, Pune Graduates, Amravati Teachers, Nagpur Graduates and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates constituencies. Rebel candidates and allegations concerning voter lists have added to the electoral contest between the ruling Mahayuti alliance and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

Union Minister of State Murlidhar Mohol cast his vote at Dindayal Upadhyaya School in Pune's Kothrud area and expressed confidence that the Mahayuti would win all five seats.

Mohol said graduate and teacher voters assess issues such as national development, international affairs and the pace of development in Maharashtra before making their choices. He also argued that Legislative Council elections operate differently from cooperative institution polls.

He expressed confidence in the prospects of Mahayuti-backed candidates, including Smita Jadhav and Kaustubh Gawde. Maharashtra Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil also predicted that the ruling alliance would secure all five seats.

On the opposition side, Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar forecast victories for the MVA across all five constituencies. He also raised concerns about electoral integrity, alleging irregularities in voter lists and accusing the BJP of relying on manipulation because it could not win elections fairly. These allegations have not been independently established.

The Pune Graduates constituency has the largest electorate, with approximately 3.88 lakh registered voters, while the Amravati Teachers constituency has the smallest, with around 35,000 voters.

Voters are required to present valid identification documents, including Aadhaar cards, driving licences, PAN cards, Indian passports and eligible government or institutional identity cards. Original university degree or diploma certificates are also among the accepted documents listed for the election.

Congress Raises Concerns Over Nagpur Voter Lists

The Nagpur Graduates constituency has seen allegations of discrepancies in the electoral rolls. Congress candidate Abhijit Wanjari and other party leaders have raised concerns over 8,744 allegedly duplicate voter entries across multiple polling booths.

Congress state chief spokesperson Atul Londhe separately alleged that around 20,000 to 22,000 voter registrations had been processed using a single mobile number, 5432154321. Congress leader Prafulla Goodhe submitted a letter to the divisional commissioner seeking an inquiry into the matter.

Following complaints, election officials reportedly required voters whose names appeared more than once on the rolls to submit written declarations confirming that they would vote at only one designated location.

With both the Mahayuti and MVA expressing confidence in their prospects, the results on October 27 will determine the outcome of the closely watched contests across Maharashtra's graduate and teacher constituencies.