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. Patil has distanced himself from her candidature, saying he is working for the victory of the MVA candidate.“She might be my niece, but I am a true soldier of my party. I will support our MVA candidate,” Patil told The Indian Express. He said he was unaware that the BJP would field her as a candidate.The Teachers’ constituency has a three-way contest between Congress candidate Jayant Asgaonkar, BJP’s Kaustubh Gawade and independent candidate Sachin Sanap. Congress has renominated Asgaonkar, the sitting MLC.The contest has strained ties between the BJP and Shiv Sena. The Sena had initially fielded Mangesh Chivate, but he withdrew after pressure from the BJP. Shinde subsequently declared support for Sanap, a close aide of Industries Minister Uday Samant.Story continues below this adThe Sena’s backing of Sanap has also raised concerns within the BJP over whether it can count on Sena voters in the Graduates’ constituency. After the Sena’s support for Sanap became clear, BJP candidate Smita Jadhav met Sena minister Shambhuraj Desai in Satara last week to seek the party’s support.Speaking to reporters, Desai said there was resentment among grassroots workers over past incidents in the district, despite the leaders having no major differences.“As leaders, we might not have issues, but there is underlying resentment among grassroots workers regarding that. Once those matters are cleared at a senior level, there won’t be any difficulty, but those things need to be cleared soon. She mentioned that she would discuss this with our senior leadership,” he said.On the final day of campaigning, Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav said educated voters would challenge what she called the BJP’s “arrogance of power and wealth”. She expressed confidence that she would win the Graduates’ constituency.Story continues below this adDeshmukh-Jadhav said she had been working in the constituency for over a year and a half, visiting villages and understanding the problems faced by students, young people and teachers.Citing the Gokul Dairy Sangh elections in Kolhapur, she said the MVA would also win the Graduates’ constituency. She pointed to the defeat of the Mahayuti by a front led by Satej Patil in the Gokul elections, saying voters would value honest leadership over money.Meanwhile, Smita Jadhav focused her campaign on strengthening ties between universities and the corporate sector. She proposed job-oriented skills training, career counselling and specialised programmes for fresh graduates. She also highlighted plans to encourage young entrepreneurs and set up training hubs to help rural students prepare for competitive examinations.