Police officer turned politician Pradeep Sharma was seen trailing behind two-time Member of legislative Assembly Kshitij Thakur by a margin of 30,342 votes on Thursday afternoon.
The former encounter specialist polled a total of 59071 votes, while Mr Thakur from the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi was in a comfortable lead with 92032 votes. Mr Thakur had won the Nallasopara seat in 2014 with a margin of 54,499 votes against BJP candidate Rajan Naik who clocked 59069 votes.
The seat was among those being closely watched, with Mr Sharma aggressively campaigning against the “reign of fear” of the Thakur family. The Thakurs, on the other hand, only maintained that the people would decide who would win. Both the candates also conducted aggressive social media campaigns against each other.
In Vasai, Mr Thakur's father and sitting MLA Hitendra Thakur was leading by 9,406 votes, while Shiv Sena candidate Vijay Patil clocked 32,567 votes. It has been a tough contest between Mr Patil, a former Congress party member who joined Shiv Sena ahead of this election and Mr Thakur who has won the Vasai seat five times. Mr Thakur had won the 2014 elections with a margin of 31,896 votes which was 16.72% of the total votes polled.
While BVA has secured lead in Vasai and Nallsopara seats, Shiv Sena candidate Vilas Tare was leading by 9,668 votes against BVA candidate Rajesh Patil. Mr Tare had won the 2014 elections on BVA tickect with a margin of 12873 against Shiv Sena candidate Anya Kamalakar.
Meanwhile, in Mira-Bhayandar, former mayor of Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation and Bharatiya Janata Party rebel Geeta Jain, who contested as an independent candidate this time, took the lead by 21,922 votes over sitting MLA Narendra Mehta of the BJP. In 2014, Mr Mehta won the seat against NCP candidate Gilbert Mendonsa with a margin of 32292 votes, polling 91468 votes
