In the saffron wave that swept across Vidarbha region on Friday, the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ally Shiv Sena won all 10 seats of the region.
Such was the wave in favour of the National Democratic Alliance that heavyweight candidates such as Praful Patel, Mukul Wasnik, seven-time MP Vilas Muttemvar, Cabinet Minister Shivajirao Moghe and Sanjay Deotale lost from their seats.
Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari turned out to be a stand-out performer from Nagpur Lok Sabha seat, winning by 2,84,828 votes.
ADVERTISEMENT
Considered close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Mr. Gadkari is now expected to play an important role in the new dispensation at the Centre.
Almost all the NDA candidates won by huge margins.
In the Wardha Lok Sabha seat, the BJP’s Ramdas Tadas defeated the Congress’s Sagar Meghe by 2,15,783 votes, whereas in the neighbouring Yavatmal-Washim seat, the Shiv Sena’s Bhavana Gawali defeated Mr. Moghe, Maharashtra Social Justice minister and senior Congress leader, by 93,816 votes.
ADVERTISEMENT
In the Amravati Lok Sabha constituency, the Sena’s Anand Adsul won by 1,37,932 votes.
The former actor Navneet Rana was the Nationalist Congress Party candidate in this seat.
In the Akola seat, the BJP’s Sanjay Dhotre defeated his closest rival, the Congress’s Hidayat Patel, by 2,03,116 votes and in the Buldhana seat, the Sena’s Prataprao Jadhav won by 1,59,579 votes.