New Delhi: Voters in four states began casting ballots on Friday morning for 28 seats in their Legislative Councils, an exercise the BJP and its rivals are reading as a preview of fights to come.
Polling for the graduate and teacher constituencies opened at 8 am and runs until 4 pm in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Ballots are on paper, and votes will be counted on October 27. The Election Commission has said the whole process will be wrapped up by October 31.
Uttar Pradesh, where an assembly election is due early next year, holds the largest single block: 11 seats, split into five graduates' and six teachers' constituencies. About 14.81 lakh electors will decide the fate of 152 candidates at 2,697 polling stations spread across 72 districts, barring Kanpur Nagar, Kanpur Dehat and Unnao. Six of the 11 outgoing members are from the BJP, three from the Samajwadi Party and two are independents. The BJP has fielded candidates on all 11 seats.
Bihar is voting for eight seats, four graduates' and four teachers', with 150 candidates in the fray and 5,32,847 voters at 933 stations. The Patna Graduates' seat has drawn attention after JD(U)'s Mokama MLA Anant Singh backed Jan Suraaj candidate Anuj Singh against his own party's nominee, Neeraj Kumar, who is seeking a fourth straight term.
In Maharashtra, 182 candidates are contesting five seats — Aurangabad, Pune and Nagpur graduates, and Pune and Amravati teachers — with 10,68,072 voters at 2,419 stations. The ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi both claim confidence.
Karnataka, the only Congress-ruled state in the exercise, is voting for four seats where the ruling party faces the BJP-JD(S) alliance. The BJP holds three of the four.
Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav said he expected both his party's candidates to win in Aligarh, telling reporters, 'Aligarh has the highest number.'
Counting is scheduled for October 27. Voters in these constituencies mark their preferences in numbers on the ballot paper, using a violet sketch pen supplied at the booth. Ballots marked with any other pen risk rejection, and the NOTA option is not available. In five western Uttar Pradesh districts — Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Bagpat and Bijnor — schools up to Class 12 were closed for polling, and liquor shops stayed shut in the districts voting. In Karnataka, the contest is being read as a test of the BJP-JD(S) alliance's coordination and of the Congress's support base. Counting on October 27 will settle the shape of all four councils.