Maharashtra Legislative Council polls to be held on December 1; BJP expected to try for all seats

The elections for five graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies of the Maharashtra Legislative Council will be held on 1 December.

According to the schedule announced by Election Commission of India, the notification for the biennial polls will be issued on 5 November; the last date of filing nomination is 12 November, while the last date to withdraw nomination is 17 November. Counting of votes will take place on December 3.

The retiring members are Chandrakant Patil (Pune Division Graduates’) and Anil Sole (Nagpur Division Graduates') – both from BJP, Satish Chavan (Aurangabad Division Graduates’) of NCP, Srikant Deshpande (Amravati Division Teachers’) of Sikshak Aghadi and Dattatreya Sawant (Pune Division Teachers’), who was an Independent.

Patil, who is a former Revenue Minister and state BJP President, got elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in 2019 from Kothrud in Pune, and subsequently resigned from the Upper House.

The term of four others ended on 19 July.

The EC asked all persons concerned with the process to strictly adhere to social distancing and compulsory wearing of masks. People entering the poll centres will be subjected to thermal scanning.

While the BJP is expected to put its might in all the seats, the Maha Vikas Aghadi is yet to take a call on the sharing of seats.