As campaigning for the Pune Graduates’ and Teachers’ constituencies of the Maharashtra Legislative Council ended on Wednesday, differences within the Mahayuti came into focus, with the Shiv Sena led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde backing an independent candidate against the BJP nominee in the Teachers’ constituency.

Polling will take place on Friday, October 23, from 8 am to 4 pm across 1,051 polling stations in the two constituencies. A total of 47 candidates are in the fray for the Graduates’ constituency and 30 for the Teachers’ constituency.

In the Graduates’ constituency, the main contest is between BJP candidate Smita Jadhav, representing the Mahayuti, and Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), who has been fielded by the NCP (SP).

Smita Jadhav is the niece of Congress MLC Satej Patil and is married to Yogesh Jadhav, director of the Marathi newspaper Pudhari.…