Counting Begins for Pune Graduate, Teachers’ MLC Constituencies
Pune, 27th October 2026: Counting of votes for the Pune division graduate and teachers’ constituencies of the Maharashtra Legislative Council began at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi on Tuesday, with the results of the keenly contested elections drawing attention from political circles.
The counting is being conducted at the badminton hall, where 100 tables have been arranged for the graduate constituency and 42 for the teachers’ constituency. The graduate constituency has five counting rooms, each with two rows of 10 tables, while the teachers’ constituency has three rooms, each with two rows of seven tables.
Returning Officer and Divisional Commissioner Sheetal Teli-Ugale directed officials and staff to work in coordination to ensure that the process remains accurate, transparent and peaceful. She also stressed the need to avoid errors during every round of counting.
In the graduate constituency, the key contest is between Dr Smita Yogesh Jadhav of the BJP-led Mahayuti and Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar). Sunil Modi of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) is among the 47 candidates in the fray.
The teachers’ constituency has 30 candidates, with the main contest involving BJP’s Kaustubh Gawade, Congress’s Jayant Asgaonkar, Independent candidate Dattatray Sawant and Shiv Sena-backed Sachin Sanap.
Ahead of the counting, officials and staff underwent training on procedures such as opening ballot boxes, preparing bundles of 50 ballot papers, segregating valid and invalid ballots, filling out prescribed forms and submitting result sheets after each round.
Additional Collector and Maharashtra Energy Development Agency Additional Director General Arun Anandkar trained the teams assigned to the teachers’ constituency, while Joint Commissioner Sanjay Palande trained those handling the graduate constituency.
