The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won three of five Maharashtra Legislative Council seats, finishing ahead of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, which secured two. The five races covered graduate and teacher seats statewide.
In Nagpur graduates’ constituency, Congress incumbent Abhijeet Wanjari retained his seat, defeating BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale by 3,271 votes after more than 40 hours of counting. The defeat drew attention because Nagpur is home to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters and is also the political base of senior BJP leaders Devendra Fadnavis and Nitin Gadkari.
Across the five seats, the BJP won the Pune teachers’ constituency, while the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena retained Amravati teachers. The MVA’s other wins came in the Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar graduates’ constituencies, where candidates from the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) were elected.
The outcome also exposed strain within the Mahayuti. BJP leaders accused members of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena of failing to support alliance candidates in some constituencies. The allegations remain disputed. The result followed reports of local-level disagreements and competing candidates during the campaign.
Political observers have linked the graduate-seat losses to concerns among educated voters about recruitment and examination issues, including NEET and Maharashtra Public Service Commission processes. Organizational lapses and candidate selection were also cited in post-poll assessments. The results offer a snapshot of voting among graduates and teachers, rather than a direct measure of statewide public opinion. The close contests are likely to prompt the ruling alliance to review its coordination ahead of future elections.

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