Polling for five Maharashtra Legislative Council seats, comprising three graduate and two teacher constituencies, is currently underway on Friday with 182 candidates in the fray, and their political futures sealed in ballot boxes across 2,419 polling stations.

The counting is scheduled for October 27. The polling, which started at 8 a.m. and will continue till 4 p.m., is taking place in the Pune Teachers and Pune Graduate constituencies; Amravati Teacher Constituency; Nagpur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduate Constituencies, where the rebels have made the elections tough for both the ruling Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi.

Union Minister of State Murlidhar Mohol cast his vote at Dindayal Upadhyaya School in Kothrud, Pune. Speaking to reporters after exercising his franchise, Mohol expressed firm confidence that the ruling Mahayuti coalition will secure victories across all five constituencies.

Mohol stated that graduate and teacher voters are educated and analytical. He noted that voters evaluate national progress, global developments, and the accelerated pace of state development under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister/Deputy CMs leadership before casting their ballots.

Addressing comparisons with cooperative body elections (such as Gokul), Mohol emphasised that cooperative and legislative council polls operate under entirely different dynamics.

He reiterated full confidence in the victory of candidates such as Smita Jadhav and Kaustubh Gawde, noting that alliance-supporting voters will firmly back the coalition.

The Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil also said that the Mahayuti will win all five seats.

Expressing strong confidence in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ahead of the Legislative Council elections, the Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar predicted victories across all five seats, including the Nagpur Graduate constituency, both seats in Pune, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and Amravati. Levelling serious allegations over electoral integrity, Wadettiwar claimed that flawed voter lists are a critical issue and asserted that the BJP resorts to manipulation in voter rolls because it cannot win elections fairly.

The Pune graduate constituency records the highest participation base with approximately 3.88 lakh voters. The Amravati teacher constituency records the smallest base with approximately 35,000 voters.

To ensure ballot validity, voters were required to present valid identification documents, including Aadhaar cards, driving licenses, PAN cards, Indian passports, government or semi-government service ID cards, MP/MLA/MLC official IDs, educational institution service IDs, or original university degree/diploma certificates.

The election process in the Nagpur graduate constituency witnessed friction following allegations of discrepancies in the voter rolls. Congress candidate Abhijit Wanjari and party leaders raised concerns over 8,744 duplicate voter entries across multiple polling booths, calling the situation a matter of serious concern.

Congress state chief spokesperson Atul Londhe alleged during a press conference that approximately 20,000 to 22,000 voter registrations were processed using a single mobile number (5432154321), and questioned the transparency of the verification process. A formal letter demanding an inquiry was submitted to the divisional commissioner by Congress leader Prafulla Goodhe.

Following complaints, election authorities at polling booths required voters with duplicate listings to execute a short written declaration confirming they were voting at only one designated location and would not cast a vote elsewhere.

Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Friday accused the BJP government at the Centre of suffering from ‘deep insecurity’ and establishing a virtual “Police Raj” in the country.

The party criticised the arrest and seven-day detention of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) youth activists Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, who were jailed for carrying the National Flag and protesting peacefully at Delhi’s historic Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The Thackray camp, in an editorial in the party’s mouthpiece, Samaana, questioned whether the government is afraid of peaceful democratic protests or terrified of young citizens holding the Indian National Flag. It condemned the government for systematically seizing public protest venues — from Mumbai and Delhi to Patna, Lucknow, and Kolkata — denouncing it as the outright choking of democracy.

Pointing out a stark contrast, the editorial highlighted that while courts lecture idealist youths holding the Tricolour, justice appears surprisingly lenient towards perpetrators of grave crimes, citing the case of rape-convicted former politician Kuldeep Sengar, whose sentence was suspended by a judge on the bench.

The editorial criticised the administration for using uniformed forces and political loyalists to suppress dissent, asserting that politicians once faced protesters directly, whereas the current regime hides behind barricades, police forces, and court injunctions.

The editorial detailed how CJP activists Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were locked up in Tihar Jail after defying prohibitory orders issued by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who unilaterally removed Jantar Mantar from the list of approved protest sites. “The children did not go to Jantar Mantar to play ‘Dandiya’; they went to raise their voice against corrupt electoral practices. If the government were truly generous and democratic, would it lock down Jantar Mantar? Asking protesters to seek government permission before rallying against state injustice is absurd — would a despotic regime ever grant permission for a protest against itself?” questioned the editorial.

Refuting arguments that “unscrupulous elements” might infiltrate public rallies — a rationale cited to justify police clearances — the Thackeray camp pointed out that prominent leaders such as Sonam Wangchuk, opposition MPs, and Parakala Prabhakar (the economist and husband of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman) have all taken to the streets. “Are these individuals also ‘troublemakers’?” the editorial asked, alleging that actual violence stems from government-backed elements clad in khaki executing crackdowns on students.

Expressing deep disappointment over the High Court’s lecturing young idealists about student unrest in France or Albania, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena urged the judiciary to look at the root cause rather than the symptoms.

The editorial asserted that the policy under the current leadership has become clear — citizens must not ask questions, nor should they demand accountability. The editorial concluded that when a government begins fearing peaceful, nation-loving youths holding the Tricolour, it signals not strength but the peak of political paranoia — a phenomenon uniquely characteristic of the Modi-Shah administration.

A suspected network of women has emerged as a significant aspect of the investigation into the firing incident involving Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff’s car, with the Mumbai Crime Branch taking another woman into custody for questioning.

The development comes after the arrest of two women in connection with the case, while investigators continue to pursue suspects across multiple states.

According to officials, the woman was brought to the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch for questioning. However, investigators have not yet disclosed her alleged role in the firing incident or the nature of her links to the other accused. Earlier, two women, identified as Radha and Babita, were arrested in Delhi in connection with the case.

In a parallel development, the Anti-Extortion Cell arrested three more accused from Sonipat in Haryana on Thursday. Mumbai Police have been conducting raids in different states based on intelligence inputs as part of the ongoing investigation. Following searches and arrests in Kota, Rajasthan, and Delhi, the police operation has now extended to Haryana.

The three accused arrested in Sonipat have been identified as Sameer, Jatin and Ankit Khatak. The Anti-Extortion Cell brought them to Mumbai following their arrest. They are expected to be produced before a court as part of the legal proceedings.

Investigators suspect that Sameer played a coordinating role in the alleged conspiracy. According to the police, he acted as a link between Anil Pandit and the alleged shooter, Rehan. Sameer is also accused of arranging funds and weapons in connection with the incident.

Police sources said that shortly after the firing, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang allegedly claimed responsibility through a social media post. A man identified as Anil Pandit was reportedly posting messages on behalf of the gang, according to the information being examined by investigators.

The police are continuing to investigate the precise roles of Jatin and Ankit Khatak, along with the possible involvement of other individuals in the alleged conspiracy.

With the latest arrests, the total number of people arrested in the case has reportedly reached 10, including two women. The third woman remains in custody for questioning, and her alleged connection to the incident is yet to be established publicly.