Legislative Council Elections: Mahayuti alliance won 16 out of 17 seats!

In the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, the ruling Mahayuti alliance registered a landslide victory and won 16 out of 17 seats. However, the ruling alliance’s victory was marred in Nashik, where an independent candidate dealt a blow to Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction.

The biennial elections concluded on Monday with counting of votes in which the Bharatiya Janata Party led the alliance to a landslide victory while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a crushing defeat in local constituencies.

Even before the voting on 11 seats on June 18, the Mahayuti alliance had won six seats unopposed. With the final announcement on Monday, the ruling alliance has completely dominated the elections, which includes BJP (11 seats), Shiv Sena (Shinde) (3 seats), NCP (Ajit Pawar) (2 seats) and Independents (1 seat).

The most shocking upset of the election was seen in Nashik Local Authority Constituency. Despite heavy political maneuvering by senior BJP leaders Girish Mahajan and Uday Samant, independent candidate (BJP rebel) Gokul Geete refused to withdraw from the election.

Geete ran an unconventional campaign without mainstream public rallies and won a dramatic victory over Mahayuti’s official candidate Eknath Shinde, sitting Shiv Sena MLC Narendra Darade. After his victory, Geete told reporters that the result was a “triumph of truth” over pressure tactics.

The Nashik results exposed the internal strife within the Mahayuti while the opposition MVA suffered a crushing defeat in almost every constituency and failed to convert the local body network into legislative seats.

In Bhandara-Gondiya, BJP’s Avinash Bramhankar defeated Congress-backed candidate Naresh Ishwarkar by a margin of 148 votes. Avinash Bramhankar got 304 votes against Ishwarkar’s 152 votes.

In Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-Jalna, BJP’s Suhas Shirsat defeated Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Ganesh Lokhande and Suhas Shirsat secured 454 votes as against Lokhande’s 134 votes.

In Nanded, Mahayuti Party’s Amarnath Rajurkar registered a landslide victory by securing 339 votes. MVA candidate Krishna Patil Ashtikar got only 84 votes while Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) candidate Prashant Ingole lagged behind by just 5 votes. In Dharashiv-Latur-Beed, BJP’s Basavaraj Patil easily entered the assembly by winning 845 votes.

BJP’s patient move in Sangli-Satara crossed the quota of 443 votes required for victory. Kadam received 591 first preference votes and defeated NCP’s Abhay Singh Jagtap (295 votes).

BJP’s Nandkishore Mahajan won in Jalgaon by a huge margin of 577 votes. Following this defeat, trailing MVA candidate Sharad Tayde (Shiv Sena UBT) publicly criticized the election process, alleging use of money power and raising doubts on the voting machines, calling it a game of “magic pen”.

Mahayuti’s landslide victory was structurally assured early in the election cycle, when six of its candidates won unopposed after several MVA alliance candidates withdrew their nominations on the last day.