Pune, Oct 23 An overall turnout of 85.87 per cent was recorded on Friday in the Pune Teachers’ constituency, while the figure was 62.78 per cent in the Graduates’ constituency here, officials said.
According to poll officials, the Pune Graduates’ constituency has 3,88,019 voters, of whom 2,43,611 voted. The Pune Teachers’ constituency has 61,940 voters, with 53,185 exercising their franchise.
The Pune division consists of Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Solapur districts. The polling started at 8 am and ended at 4 pm, they added.
In the Pune Graduates’ constituency, the BJP has fielded Smita Jadhav against NCP (SP) candidate Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav, while Shiv Sena (UBT) has also fielded a candidate.
In the Pune Teachers’ constituency, the BJP’s Kaustubh Gawde is contesting against sitting MLC Jayant Asgaonkar of the Congress. The Shiv Sena, which is part of the BJP-led Mahayuti in the state, is, however, backing independent candidate Sachin Sanap, an officer on special duty (OSD) to state minister Uday Samant.
Besides the two seats in Pune, the biennial elections are also being held in the Nagpur Division Graduates’, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) Graduates’ and Amravati Teachers’ constituencies.
The Pune Graduates’ constituency has the highest number of candidates at 47, followed by Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) Graduates’ constituency at 41. The figure is 30 for Pune Teachers’ constituency.
The Mahayuti, comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Sunetra Pawar-led NCP, and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of the Congress, Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) and Uddhav Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena (UBT) are contesting all five seats.
The counting of votes is scheduled for October 27, while the election process will be completed by October 31.
(PTI News)
