Mumbai: In the elections to the six seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, the Bharatiya Janata Party won four seats, including Nagpur, giving a setback to the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The party snatched Akola-Buldhana-Washim seat from Shiv Sena. Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Devendra Fadnavis reacting to BJP’s victory said that BJP has broken the myth of MVA that all three parties (Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) Together we can win all elections in the state.
On December 10, the Election Commission had announced voting for six seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council. Shiv Sena (Sunil Shinde) and BJP (Rajhans Singh) won one seat each unopposed from Mumbai. In the Kolhapur and Nandurbar-Dhule Legislative Council elections also, the Congress and the BJP won one seat each, respectively, unopposed.
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Voting was held on December 10 in Nagpur and Akola-Buldhana-Washim seats. According to the District Information Office, out of 554 votes cast in Nagpur, BJP candidate and former state power minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule got 362 votes, while Mangesh Deshmukh, an independent candidate supported by the MVA, got 186 votes.
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The party supported Deshmukh after Congress candidate Ravindra Bhoyer had expressed his inability to contest on the eve of voting. However, later Bhoyar contested and got only one vote. In Akola-Washim-Buldhana, three-time MLC of Shiv Sena Gopikishan Bajoria lost to Vasant Khandelwal of BJP. Of the total 808 votes, Khandelwal got 443 while Bajoria got 334 votes.
Fadnavis said, “MVA parties were claiming that the three parties would win all the elections together. We have shattered this myth and I think this victory has laid the foundation for our future victory.” Khandelwal attributed his victory to his party’s successful strategy. Talking to reporters, Bawankule said that the MVA had 240 votes. However, the MVA-backed candidate got only 186 votes.
Bawankule hit out at Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole, accusing him of behaving in an autocratic manner and demanded his resignation. He said that Congress should introspect why their votes were divided.
He said, “For two days they indulged in horse-trading, yet they could not keep their party together. This is truly the defeat of the Congress leaders. Congress leaders are behaving in an autocratic manner. Nana Patole is not fit to work for the state unit of the party and he should resign.” (agency)