Belying tall claims of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of sweeping all five seats in the Maharashtra Legislative polls, the opposition tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) came out on top, with the MVA trouncing the BJP in the critical Nagpur teachers’ constituency and leading in two other seats in the MLC results on Thursday.
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While the results were yet to be fully declared and counting for three seats ongoing till late evening, the MVA was clearly in the driver’s seat with the ruling BJP managing to win only the Konkan teachers’ constituency.
Independent candidate Sudhakar Adbale, who was picked by the MVA, managed to score an upset win in the saffron party’s stronghold of Nagpur — a bastion of tall BJP leaders like Devendra Fadnavis and Nitin Gadkari — winning more than 16,000 votes and supplanting the BJP’s sitting MLC Nago Ganar, who could secure only 8,000 votes.
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“The MVA has given the BJP a blow in birthplace of its parent organisation [the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh],” tweeted a jubilant Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole.
High stakes Nagpur seat
A highlight in the MLC polls was the high stakes Nashik graduates’ constituency seat, which had witnessed much drama in the run-up to the electoral contest.
According to sources, ‘rebel’ Congress leader Satyajeet Tambe, contesting as an independent, had secured a comfortable margin over his nearest rival — independent Shubhangi Patil who is being backed by the MVA
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The Maharashtra Congress had been left red-faced and schisms had emerged within the MVA troika (of the NCP, the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena) after the Congress’ chosen candidate for the Nashik seat — three-time MLC Sudhir Tambe — had withdrawn his nomination at the eleventh hour in defiance of the party high command.
Instead, his son, Mr. Satyajeet Tambe had announced his candidature as an independent, while stating that he would seek the support of the ruling BJP.
However, despite the BJP leadership urging Satyajeet to formally announce that he would be joining them in lieu of their support for him, Satyajeet has remained non-committal, stating instead that he had always wanted to contest as the Congress’ official candidate but that problems regarding his nomination had arisen because of a few leaders.
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In the Aurangabad teachers’ constituency, the MVA’s candidate Vikram Kale (from the NCP) was headed for a comfortable win while in the Amravati graduates constituency seat, the MVA candidate Dhiraj Lingade (of the Congress) had gained significantly over the BJP’s Ranjit Patil.
Mr. Fadnavis himself had campaigned for Mr. Patil ahead of the polls.
The BJP could only win the Konkan seat convincingly, with its candidate Dnyaneshwar Mhatre, a former Uddhav Thackeray loyalist, trouncing his rival from the Peasants’ and Workers’ Party (PWP).
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NCP elated
Leader of the Opposition and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar remarked that the results were a slap on the face of the ruling Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government.
“While the results are not fully out, they are a slap on the face of the ruling government [Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction-BJP]…all parties ought to speak, think and plan carefully before making big claims regarding the outcome,” said Mr. Pawar.
He further said that if the Congress had earlier given Mr. Satyajeet Tambe a nomination for the Nashik seat, a major fiasco could have been avoided and the seat could have easily been won by the MVA without any problems.
“Mr. Satyajeet Tambe had been a Youth Congress leader. The Congress ideology runs in the blood of the Tambe family. I am sure after he wins this seat, he will take a proper decision,” Mr. Pawar said.