Voting commenced for the biennial elections for 11 seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council at the Vidhan Bhavan Complex in Mumbai on Friday morning.
Sanjay Gaikwad of Shiv Sena was the first person to cast his vote using the secret ballot system.
There are 12 contenders vying for the 11 seats. The voting is scheduled from 9 am to 4 pm, but Shiv Sena (UBT) has requested an extension by an hour due to heavy rainfall in Mumbai.
The electoral college for the polls is the 288-member legislative assembly with a current strength of 274 members.
Each successful candidate would require a minimum of 23 first-preference votes.
Eleven members of the upper house of the state legislature are set to retire on July 27, and the high-stakes polls are being conducted to fill the vacancies.
The BJP has put forward five candidates, while its Mahayuti allies Shiv Sena and NCP have selected two each.
Both the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) have nominated one candidate each, while their Maha Vikas Aghadi partner NCP (SP) is supporting the candidate of the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP).
The MVA does not have the necessary numbers to ensure the election of the third candidate, but it hopes that some MLAs of the NCP and the Shiv Sena, both constituents of Mahayuti, will vote in their favour.
In recent days, the NCP (SP) has asserted that some MLAs from the opposing camp led by Ajit Pawar are in contact with the opposition party and may consider returning following MVA's strong performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
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