Registered graduates in six Vidarbha districts will vote on October 23 for the Nagpur Division Graduates’ seat in the Maharashtra Legislative Council. The Election Commission announced the poll along with four other Council seats, and the model code of conduct took effect at once, The Free Press Journal reported. Polling runs 8 am to 4 pm, and counting takes place on October 27.
Key dates
- September 29: notification issued
- October 6: last day for nominations
- October 7: scrutiny
- October 9: last day to withdraw
- October 23: polling
- October 27: counting
The constituency covers Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli. Graduates in Aurangabad and Pune divisions vote the same day for their own seats, along with teachers in the Amravati and Pune divisions. All five sitting members finish their terms on December 6.
Why Nagpur is the one to watch
For roughly 58 years the Jana Sangh and then the BJP held this seat, Nagpur Today noted. Nitin Gadkari represented it for more than two decades before moving to the Lok Sabha. The BJP lost it in 2020 in the party’s home city, where the RSS keeps its headquarters. Congress’s Abhijit Wanjari polled 61,701 first-count votes against a winning quota of 60,747 and beat the BJP’s Sandip Joshi, who got 42,791.
Wanjari is expected to run again for Congress. The BJP’s names in circulation include former MLA Sudhakar Kohale and former MLC Anil Sole, who held the seat before Wanjari. Shikshak Bharati has named engineer Atul Deshmukh. Nobody can file papers until September 29, so the field may still change.
The two alliances approach the five seats differently. The ruling Mahayuti wants a joint slate so the BJP, Shinde Sena and NCP can pool their networks among teachers and professionals, The Hans India reported. The Maha Vikas Aghadi is expected to coordinate candidates but has not finished seat-sharing talks.
Who gets to vote
A graduates’ seat has its own electoral roll, separate from the one you used in the Lok Sabha, Assembly or civic polls. Under the Representation of the People Act, you qualify if you live in the constituency and completed your degree (or an equivalent qualification) at least three years before the qualifying date. For this cycle that date was November 1, 2025, and the draft roll came out on December 3, 2025. The Commission builds this roll from scratch for each election, so an entry from 2020 does not carry over.
Graduates who applied during last year’s enrolment drive should search their name on the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra website, which publishes the Nagpur Graduates’ roll part by part. If your name is missing, ask your district collectorate or tehsil election office whether they still accept claims; the rules allow late additions only up to a cut-off tied to the nomination deadline.
The ballot also works differently. Council seats use preferential voting: you rank candidates 1, 2, 3 and so on, and a candidate wins by crossing a quota, as Wanjari did in 2020. Mark numbers, not a tick or a cross, and use the pen the polling staff hand you. A ballot marked any other way can be rejected as invalid.
What to watch
The first test comes on October 6, when nominations close and the parties show whether they managed one candidate per alliance or face rebels. After that, turnout decides the result. The electorate is spread across six districts, from Nagpur city to forested Gadchiroli, and the party that brings its registered graduates to the booth on a Friday will likely take the seat.
Sources: Nagpur Today, The Free Press Journal, The Hans India
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.