Election machinery was in action mode on the eve of MLC poll on Thursday
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar : The stage is set for polling in the Aurangabad division graduates’ constituency on Friday, where 3,26,701 graduate voters will decide the fate of 41 candidates across 842 polling centres in eight districts. Polling will be held from 8 am to 4 pm, with the counting scheduled for Oct 27.
“Voters must write ‘1’ in the preference column next to the candidate of their choice. The figure ‘1’ must appear against only one candidate. Voters can then mark further preferences as 2, 3, or 4 against other contestants in order of choice,” election authorities said. Preferences must be indicated in figures only—such as 1, 2, 3; I, II, III; or १, २, ३ (in Devanagari script)—and not written in words.
the two factions of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are largely battling this election as a fight for legacy While political equations have turned messy across both Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) camps. The contest is expected to be a direct fight between sitting MLC Satish Chavan of NCP and Pratapsinh Patil of NCP (SP). Within Mahayuti alliance, Sillod Shiv Sena MLA Abdul Sattar campaigned against Chavan, with a few prominent party leaders allegedly siding with Sattar secretly. MVA also faced an internal split after its alliance partner, Shiv Sena (UBT), fielded Dilip Ghuge. Graduate voters will cast their ballots through a preferential voting system, which differs from general elections. Voters must use only the violet sketch pen supplied by the polling officer. Using any other pen, ballpoint, or pencil will invalidate the ballot paper. Sreekanth also reviewed the election preparedness across Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Beed, Latur, Dharashiv, Parbhani, Nanded, and Hingoli districts. The review covered basic amenities at polling stations, voter facilitation, availability of polling material, staff deployment, and security arrangements, alongside planning for party booths outside polling centres and safe transportation of ballot boxes.