The Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party won two seats each while the Nationalist Congress Party won just one in the results of five out of six Maharashtra Council seats which were declared on Thursday.
The six seats had gone to the polls on Monday, but counting for the Osmanabad-Beed-Latur seat has been kept pending owing to a court order. In Nashik, Sena’s Narendra Darade defeated NCP’s Shivaji Sahane. Mr. Darade thanked NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal for helping him secure victory. He said, “All parties have helped me to get to 400 votes. Naturally, everyone has helped me.”
Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had inquired about Mr. Bhujbal’s medical condition following his release on bail earlier this month. Mr. Bhujbal’s son, Pankaj, had met the Sena president at his residence, Matoshree, in Mumbai. Mr. Bhujbal, a former Shiv Sainik, had thanked the Sena for the party’s support during his ‘trial by fire’.
In Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, all parties including the BJP, Narayan Rane’s Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, and the Peasants and Workers Party extended support to NCP candidate Aniket Tatkare, the son of former minister Sunil Tatkare, against the Sena’s Rajiv Sable.
Mr. Thackeray alluded to allegations of Sunil Tatkare’s involvement in the irrigation scam. He said, “Now all those who united to defeat us should unitedly start probing the irrigation scam.”
Congress suffered embarrassment in Amaravati and Parbhani-Hingoli, thanks to infighting and backstabbing by the NCP. In Amaravati, its candidate Anil Madhogaria won 17 votes while the BJP’s Pravin Pote won 458 votes.
Narrow defeats
In Parbhani-Hingoli, the NCP seems to have voted in favour of the Sena. Congress candidate Suresh Deshmukh lost to Viplov Bajoria of the Sena by 35 votes. NCP State chief Jayant Patil said, “I and Congress chief Ashok Chavan were in touch on this seat. We tried our best.” In Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli, Congress’s Indrakumar Saraf lost to BJP’s Ramdas Ambatkar by 37 votes.
