Poll booth staffers assigned for MLC polls in Solapur left with jumbo ballot box and other material to their respective polling booths
Kolhapur : As many as 3.88 lakh voters are eligible to vote in the graduates’ constituency, while 61,940 voters are registered for the teachers’ constituency in the MLC elections. In the last election alone, more than 10,000 votes were declared invalid in the graduates’ constituency. Preference numbers must not be written in words; they must be entered as 1, 2, 3 or in Roman numerals within the box next to the candidate’s name. Voting will take place from 8 am to 4 pm. Voters who have not received their EPIC slips can use any of the 10 valid alternative documents as identity proof.
Voting will be conducted via ballot paper, and voters must mark their preferences numerically. Election authorities and candidates alike are actively raising awareness on how to cast a valid vote, given that these elections typically witness a high number of invalid ballots. Sheetal Teli-Ugale, the election returning officer (ERO) and divisional commissioner, appealed to first-time voters to thoroughly understand the voting process. “A violet sketch pen will be provided at the booths; no other pen will be allowed to mark preferences. No tick marks are allowed. No two candidates can be given the same preference number, or else the ballot will be deemed invalid,” the ERO stated.
Pune district has 88,202 voters, Satara has 47,463, Solapur has 49,072, Sangli has 88,070, and Kolhapur has the highest share with 1,14,562 voters, according to the final electoral roll for the graduates’ constituency. For the teachers’ constituency, Pune has registered 16,822 voters, Solapur 15,303, Satara 9,454, Sangli 8,062, and Kolhapur 12,299. NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar issued a video message appealing to citizens to vote for Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidates. Concurrently, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis spearheaded rallies for BJP and reached out to disgruntled Shiv Sena leaders in Satara to consolidate support for the party’s nominees.