Amravati teachers' seat: 26 candidates in the fray, two of them from Buldhana

Buldhana: Twenty-six candidates are in the fray for the Amravati division teachers' constituency of the Maharashtra Legislative Council after four withdrew, the news portal Buldana Live reported. Polling is on October 23.

Two candidates from Buldhana district have kept their nominations: Suresh Devkar, chairman of the Aditi Urban credit society, and Dattatray Lahane of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). Also in the race are the Congress's Aditi Pohare, former MLA Shrikant Deshpande and sitting MLA Kiran Sarnaik of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena. The independent nominations of Chandrashekhar Bhoyar and Sangeeta Shinde, both of the BJP, also stand, and the BJP has not yet made its position clear, the report said.

According to the final roll, the five districts together have 35,810 eligible teacher voters: Amravati 10,097, Buldhana 9,134, Yavatmal 6,932, Akola 5,942 and Washim 3,715. Of the division's 81 polling stations, 18 are in Buldhana district.

The 2020 election had 35,622 voters, so the roll has grown by only 188 in six years, Pudhari reported. In that election 30,918 teachers voted, but 1,089 ballots were rejected because of mistakes in marking preferences, leaving 29,829 valid votes. The qualifying date for this year's roll was November 1, 2025; secondary and higher secondary teachers and college lecturers with at least three years of service in the last six years were eligible.

Sources: Pudhari; Buldanalive