Pune Padvidhar Election Result: NCP (SP)’s Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav Wins Pune Graduates’ Seat, Defeats BJP’s Smita Jadhav

Pune, 29th October 2026: Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav of the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) has won the Pune Graduates’ (Padvidhar) constituency, keeping the seat with the Maha Vikas Aghadi. She defeated the BJP’s Smita Jadhav by close to 10,000 votes.

According to ANI, Deshmukh-Jadhav polled 1,13,840 votes against Smita Jadhav’s 1,03,912. Other reports carry slightly different numbers, since the final count depends on the preference rounds.

The constituency is spread across the five districts of the Pune division: Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Solapur. Voting was held on October 23.

Why everyone was watching this seat

It’s one of the largest graduate electorates in the state, and this time it was seen as a straight fight between the MVA and the Mahayuti. “Pune padvidhar election result” was among the fastest-rising searches in Maharashtra this week.

During the campaign, Deshmukh-Jadhav said she had been working in the constituency for about a year and a half and accused the BJP of naming its candidate late. After the result, she said, “We have achieved the quota of 1.13 lakh votes.”

Why counting takes so long

Graduates’ seats are decided on ballot papers with preferential voting. A candidate has to reach a fixed quota to win. If nobody gets there on first preferences, the candidates at the bottom are knocked out one by one and their votes move to the voters’ next choice. That is why these counts can run well past a day. Our MLC election explainer goes into more detail.

Across the state, the MVA won all three graduates’ seats this round, while the Mahayuti won both teachers’ seats, including Pune Teachers’. Here are the full Maharashtra MLC results.

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