Mumbai: Congress candidate Abhijit Wanjari defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party in Nagpur. The elections for the five seats of Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad have thrown up mixed results with the ruling Mahayuti alliance leading in three seats, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is ahead in two constituencies. The results are seen as a setback for the ruling coalition, which has put up all its might to win all five seats.
Of the five seats that went to the polls, BJP candidates are ahead in Pune Teachers and Nagpur Graduates constituencies, while Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s Kiran Sarnaik leads in Amravati Teachers constituency. NCP (SP) candidates lead in the Pune and Aurangabad Graduates constituencies, giving the MVA an advantage in two seats overall.
BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale was leading in Nagpur Graduates’ constituency against Congress’ sitting MLC Abhijeet Wanjari and Shiv Sena candidate Kiran Sarnaik was ahead of his nearest rival Aditi Pohre from Congress in the Amravati Teachers’ constituency after 21 rounds of counting.
In Pune Teachers’ constituency, BJP candidate Kaustubh Gawade was leading over his nearest rival and independent candidate Sachin Sanap, backed by Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. Sitting Congress MLC Jayant Asgaonkar was eliminated from the race after finishing fourth.
In the Pune Graduates’ constituency, NCP-SP candidate Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav looked set to win as she was leading over BJP nominee Smita Jadhav after the 26th elimination round.
In the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) Graduates’ constituency, NCP-SP candidate Pratapsinh Patil was leading over NCP’s sitting MLC Satish Chavan, who won the seat for the first time in 2008 and bagged it again in the 2014 and 2020 elections.
Meanwhile, as the Ajit Pawar-led NCP drew a blank in the elections, senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel has called for introspection within the party and ‘fixing’ of the organisational structure.
Terming the NCP’s performance in the election a ‘wake-up’ call, Patel said, “Today’s Vidhan Parishad election results serve as a definitive wake-up call. The time has come for urgent introspection to rebuild trust, realign our priorities, and fix our organisational structure.”
While Patel did not name any party or leader, his post is said to have been aimed at the current NCP leadership handling the state alliance arrangements, including deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar and her son Parth Pawar.
Before the elections, the NCP had to relinquish its traditional stronghold of Pune graduates’ seat to the BJP, which fielded Dr Smita Jadhav, daughter-in-law of media baron Dr Pratapsinh Jadhav. However, Jadhav was trailing against NCP-SP candidate Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav.
Out of five seats, the NCP contested only one seat – Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar graduates’ constituency, where its incumbent MLC Satish Chavan contested. However, NCP (SP) candidate Pratapsinh Patil has already secured a healthy lead over Chavan and is likely to win the seat comfortably.
The NCP national party spokesperson Umesh Patil defended Patel’s remarks saying every party does introspection after an election defeat. “There is nothing wrong in what he has said. It’s unfair to say that his (Patel’s) comments are directed at someone. We will definitely ponder over the defeat and take corrective measures,” he said.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
