53 per cent voting in Legislative council polls

Elections were held for Mumbai graduates, Konkan graduates, Mumbai teachers and Nashik division teachers constituencies.

The lowest turnout of about 18 per cent was seen in Mumbai graduates while the highest was approximately 70 per cent for Nashik teachers.

In Konkan division graduates, NCP's Niranjan Davkhare is pitted against sitting BJP MLC Sanjay Kelkar while in Mumbai graduates, Shiv Sena's sitting MLC Deepak Sawant is pitted against Rajesh Teke, who is supported by Congress and NCP.

Sitting MLC Kapil Patil of Lok Bharati is seeking re-election from Mumbai teachers supported by the Congress and NCP. BJP's Manisha Kayande is contesting as independent candidate against the party backed nominee Sharad Yadav of Shikshak Parishad. Kayande has the backing of Shiv Sena.

The current term of the sitting MLCs ends on July 7.

In Nashik, Congress-NCP is supporting Rajendra Lande (independent) against Sanjay Chavan of Shiv Sena.

Konkan division graduates seat saw a turnout of over 50 per cent while Mumbai teachers polled about 65 per cent of the votes.

The state electoral officer Debashish Chakravarty said the final voting percentage will be available later today. Counting of votes will be taken up on July 4.