Legislative Council polls: five graduates’ and teachers’ seats vote on Friday; where the dry day applies, for how long, and what voters need to know

Public campaigning has ended for five Legislative Council seats, and booths open at 8 am on Friday, 23 October, with voting closing at 4 pm. The seats are the graduates’ constituencies of the Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) divisions and the teachers’ constituencies of the Amravati and Pune divisions. Votes will be counted on Tuesday, 27 October. Several districts ordered liquor sales stopped around polling, but High Court rulings have since shortened those bans in some places.

The poll at a glance

• Polling: 8 am to 4 pm on Friday, 23 October
• Counting: Tuesday, 27 October; the whole election process is to be completed by 31 October
• 182 candidates in all for the five seats
• 10,68,072 registered voters and 2,419 polling stations across the five constituencies
• This is a biennial election, held because the terms of all five sitting members end on 6 December 2026

The five constituencies and their candidates

• Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) Division Graduates: 41 candidates
• Pune Division Graduates: 47 candidates, the most of any seat; 3,88,019 voters
• Nagpur Division Graduates: 38 candidates
• Amravati Division Teachers: 26 candidates
• Pune Division Teachers: 30 candidates

Dry day: the orders differ by district

Citing the 48 hours before the close of polling, several district administrations had told liquor shops and bars to stay shut from 4 pm on Wednesday, 21 October, until voting ends on 23 October, and some had added counting day as well. Liquor sellers took those orders to the Bombay High Court, and the picture has changed since. Every order reported so far still keeps sales stopped on polling day until 4 pm.

• Nagpur and Chandrapur: the Nagpur bench of the High Court set aside both collectors’ extended orders. Sales now stop only during polling hours on 23 October, between 8 am and 4 pm, and there is no ban on counting day, 27 October.
• Pune: the district had first announced a ban from the afternoon of 21 October. Pudhari reports that the order was changed after a High Court ruling on 21 October: within the jurisdiction of the State Excise Superintendent, Pune-1, liquor sales are now stopped only on 23 October, from midnight to 4 pm.
• Amravati, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and other districts: we could not confirm the revised timings there. Check your district’s latest order with the collector’s office or the State Excise Department.

No weekly market in five Pune villages

To keep crowds away from villages that host polling stations, Pune collector Jitendra Dudi has ordered weekly markets in five villages to stay closed on polling day. The administration has warned of action against anyone who breaks the order.

• Ambegaon taluka: Pargaon Tarfe Avsari Budruk and Ghodegaon
• Indapur taluka: Bawda
• Khed taluka: Rajgurunagar
• Baramati taluka: Loni Bhapkar

For voters

• Who can vote: only people listed in the special electoral roll prepared for the graduates’ or teachers’ constituency concerned. Holding a degree, or being on the Assembly voters’ list, is not enough.
• Finding your name and booth: for the Pune division, the final roll, the list of polling stations and a voter-search link are on the divisional commissioner’s website, divcompune.maharashtra.gov.in. The state Chief Electoral Officer’s website is ceoelection.maharashtra.gov.in.
• Government staff: officers and employees who are voters get a paid special casual leave on polling day, over and above their regular casual leave.
• Private-sector employees: no full-day leave, but employers must give time off to vote. In the Pune division this has been raised from two hours to four, according to the office of Pune divisional commissioner and returning officer Sheetal Teli-Ugale.
• Polling closes at 4 pm, so reach your booth well before then.

Sources: Pune Divisional Commissioner’s office (Graduates’ and Teachers’ election 2026); Lokmat Times; Free Press Journal; Prahaar; Saam TV; TV9 Marathi; The Live Nagpur; Nagpur Today; Pudhari (dry day); Pudhari (weekly markets); Pudhari (leave); Sarkarnama