Mumbai: With biennial elections to five seats in the legislative council due on October 23, differences over seat-sharing have emerged within both the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliances

Published on: Oct 5, 2026, 07:46:10 IST

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Mumbai: With biennial elections to five seats in the legislative council due on October 23, differences over seat-sharing have emerged within both the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliances. Within the ruling camp, both the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena have staked claim over one of the seats, while in the MVA, the Congress’ unilateral declaration of candidates for three of the seats has upset allies. The Congress, meanwhile, is eyeing at least two victories in the poll, so it can stake claim to the Leader of Opposition post in the upper house.

On October 23, elections will be held for the Aurangabad, Pune and Nagpur Graduates’ constituencies and the Amravati and Pune Teachers’ constituencies.

On Friday, Congress announced its candidates for the Nagpur graduates’ seat and the Pune and Amravati teachers’ constituencies, taking the Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) by surprise.

The BJP has also announced its candidates for the Nagpur and Pune graduates’ and the Pune teachers’ constituencies, leaving the e Aurangabad Graduates’ constituency for the NCP and the Amravati Teachers’ constituency for the Shiv Sena. But the Sena has declared that it will field a candidate against the BJP in the Pune teachers’ constituency.

On Friday, after Sena leader and industries minister Uday Samant asserted that Mangesh Chivte would be the party’s candidate for the Pune teachers’ constituency, Chivte held a show of strength at Theur and said he would file his nomination on Tuesday at 11am as per instructions from Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde.

Chivte said the Sena had sought the Pune teachers’ seat from the BJP while conceding the Pune graduates’ seat to the latter, but the seat-sharing arrangement did not go in their favour. Strong support from teachers and Shinde’s instructions had prompted him to contest, he said.

While BJP leaders said that the party’s claim over three seats was based on its organisational strength in the respective divisions, infighting at the local level is likely to pose a challenge for the ruling alliance.

In Amravati, several Shiv Sena leaders – including minister Sanjay Rathod, MP Sanjay Deshmukh and former MLC Shrikant Deshpande – are not in favour of party leader Kiran Sarnaik’s candidature. BJP leader Shekhar Bhoyar has also staked his claim to the seat.

In the Aurangabad division, BJP MLA Prashant Bamb and party leader Sanjay Kenekar have openly opposed the candidature of NCP’s Satish Chavan, alleging that he had acted against them in previous elections.

In the opposition MVA camp, NCP (SP)’s Pratapsinh Patil has staked a claim to the Aurangabad Graduates’ constituency, although the seat is likely to go to the Shiv Sena (UBT). Allies are also upset with the Congress’s unilateral declaration of Jayant Asgaonkar, the sitting MLC, as its candidate from Pune Graduates’ constituency, and the NCP (SP) is likely to field Harshada Prabhakar Deshmukh from the seat.

Congress state chief Harshavardhan Sakpal, however, denied any resentment within the MVA. “Of the five seats, two are represented by sitting Congress legislators, and the party has given them another opportunity. Discussions are underway for the other two seats. We are all united, and our respective roles will complement each other. There is no deadlock of any kind,” he said.

Congress leaders said the party was eyeing the post of Leader of the Opposition by winning two of the three seats it was contesting.

“We have fair chances of winning the Amravati and Pune teachers’ constituencies. In Amravati, our candidate Aaditi Pohare’s father, Harshavardhan Deshmukh, a former Congress minister, controls over 550 educational institutions under the banner of Shivaji Shikshan Prasarak Mandal and has the strength to mobilise teachers’ votes through them. Her father-in-law, Prakash Pohare, is a media owner, which will also help her. Similarly, the Pune division has strong organisational presence of Vishwajeet Kadam and Satej Patil, who run multiple educational institutions. These factors will help us in winning,” said a Congress leader.

The Congress leader also claimed that the party’s Nagpur graduates’ constituency candidate Abhijit Wanjari, the sitting MLC, was in a stronger position than the BJP’s Sudhakar Kohale.

“If we win at least two seats, our strength in the Upper House will become eight, qualifying us to get the post of Leader of the Opposition, which has been denied to us for not having 10% of the total strength of the House, which is 78. No other opposition party currently has that strength,” the Congress leader said.

A source in the Congress said that both the seats up for grabs in the Pune division would witness a battle between prominent political families in western Maharashtra.

In the Pune graduates’ constituency, the BJP has fielded Smita Jadhav, Congress leader Satej Patil’s niece and wife of media owner from Kolhapur, Yogesh Jadhav.

“Satej Patil spearheads the Congress campaign in the Pune teachers’ constituency, while his relative Smita is a candidate from the graduates’ constituency in the same division,” the source said. “In the Pune teachers’ constituency, the BJP ‘s Kaustubh Gawde is a staunch supporter of party MP Dhananjay Mahadik, who is an arch rival of Satej Patil.”

In graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies, graduates and teachers from the entire division comprising multiple districts elect their representative to the council. Registration of graduates/ teachers as voters plays a key role and competing candidates can secure a win by registering more candidates. Parties or candidates with control over educational institutes enjoy an upper hand in teachers’ constituencies.

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